Right in Two
by SirSaulty1995
Summary: The world is such a cruel place, ones where dreams can be so fragile yet easily broken. Naruto was denied his one true dream and ambition in life, stolen by people consumed with bigotry,prejudice,greed,hatred and fear. They are afraid of him and by their actions they have cast out the child of prophecy and into a place fit for demons to rule. Rule?... he might consider that job.
1. Chapter 1: the lone miner

**Right in two**

 **Chapter 1: The lone miner**

 **(If i were to pick a theme song for this it would be right in two by Tool)**

"Did you hear? Two grunts from our unit were executed by General Budo yesterday." A patrolling guard said to his colleague.

"No shit! What for? Cowardice?... Defection?"

"Uniform violations… I shit you not." Then they both laughed.

"The dress code is our foundation of discipline and honour. It serves them right." The two passing guards walked by on the catwalk overlooking one of the many mine shafts that lead deep into the rocks that contained rich minerals. A figure could be seen in the cover of the dark and dirty mine shaft holding in a snort of disgust. He stepped out of the darkness revealing himself to be a tall young man of 16 years of age who measured at 5'10 in height. The figure wore a dark-grey hooded trench coat that went down to his knees and hid most of his body. He also wore durable, black combat trousers and dark-brown boots that had seen better days and were covered in dust and dirt. His face was obscured by red tinted goggles with a black frame and a faded/tattered burnt orange scarf covering the lower part of his face. In his hands was a handheld pneumatic mining drill that was connected to a power supply resting on his back while the drill itself looked like a bulky rifle, but with the handle on the top and the trigger at the back of the drill located underneath the large cable connecting to it.

'Honour?' he thought, 'there is no such thing.' He thought bitterly.

If anyone had thought of or mentioned anything about the world's definition of nobility and honour in today's world, then chances are that they will not live for very long. Times change and so do the people. Unfortunately, they evolved into the worst kind of people that humanity can achieve by itself. Namely how humanity has fallen to its lowest by this one man…Prime Minister Honest. This man was by far the most hated man in the entire region or the world for that matter. It is surprising on how a once prosperous empire had fallen due to this one man's lies, deception, backstabbing and schemes all for a position of power and the complete manipulation of an unsuspecting and naive child emperor who ascended the throne just so he can live a selfish, happy and carefree life for himself.

The unsuspecting emperor Makoto, who to be quite frank, was not fit for the throne as he was too trusting, which led him to be blinded by this man's lies and was horribly incapable of making his own decisions. His morality was wrapped around Honest's finger like a lost child so he couldn't discern what was right and wrong. His word of law was severely deluded and his position, while he was unaware of it, was more like that of a figurehead, which led the prime minister, the ambassadors, the military, the police force and even the aristocrats to do whatever they want.

After the previous prime minister's death and the ascension of Emperor Makoto, the whole empire plunged into a whirlpool of darkness and problems that kept going deeper and deeper, such as a deep economic recession and political corruption. Furthermore, public order was deteriorating rapidly; poverty was rampant in many places; slavery had become a widely popular practice for the nobles, but was also brutal for the slave workers to the point where many died from it; crime rates had risen to catastrophic levels and the people were living in fear. Even the neighbouring countries were not safe from the growing threat of the Empire. Examples included the tribes, nomadic clans and the communities and regional vassal states that initiated uprisings towards the Empire, but inevitably they were brutally put down. They were not spared from death or torture as only the men were mostly tortured and killed savagely. The women were equally tortured as well, but mostly they were brutally raped until they broke, or both the men, women and children were sold into slavery.

The hooded man in question himself is a slave who works in the biggest, dangerous and harshest mines in all of the Empire. His home was located in the far west beyond the ocean. How did he get here you ask? Well the empire isn't the only place that is evil. If you go over their right now and ask anyone in the fire country which place is the best ninja village, then they would say Konohagakure hands down. However, anyone else outside of Hi no Kuni would object to that strongly, but no hidden village is perfect as they would claim it to be.

Three years ago, it all happened on that one fateful night where it was the day for the annual graduation exams. The exams itself was the gateway for future ninja hopefuls to pass through to begin their careers as loyal Konoha ninjas. Everybody present in the exams was ecstatic and full of pride, including the parents of said children, mostly the clans and the civilians. All were happy, but one boy…Naruto Uzumaki. Unfortunately, for the third time he had failed his exam again. This time was his last chance to reach his dream to be the Hokage and earn the respect from every villager that scorned him, But what he didn't know was that the requirement for the use of a regular bunshin was just a small trickle of chakra (by his standards) that the justu was ranked E, the lowest of the class of jutsu for a reason. Even though the Bunshin was practically useless out in the field, it was labelled as a requirement. That particular jutsu had been the bane of his existence, barring his way all because his reserves were abnormally high for a simple academy student and nobody had bothered to remedy it, because they simply didn't care about him or they forgot.

After sitting on a swing feeling utterly depressed that he had failed, his academy instructor came by to cheer him up and notified him that there was a secret exam that he could partake to pass as a ninja. While the whole thing was suspicious itself, Naruto took it anyway. The task was to sneak into the Hokage's office undetected and *Ahem!*… obtain the forbidden scroll from the office which was a cinch for Naruto due to his pranking sprees throughout the village, which earned him more ire and hate from the civilians instead of respect and acknowledgement. Naruto could easily sneak through any part of the village like the T&I building, Anbu headquarters, and even the Hyuuga clan's compound, undetected. So sneaking through the Hokage building would have been a breeze for him. It was too bad nobody appreciated his stealth skills or took any notice in him.

After nabbing the forbidden scroll and knocking the Hokage unconscious or into a possible coma from the huge amount of blood loss with Naruto's very own newly formed secret kinjutsu…the Oiroke no Jutsu. It was super effective even more so when he used it against Iruka-sensei. After all that, Naruto arrived at the designated area where he was supposed to meet his instructor. However, he found out that he was two hours early... either that or Mizuki was really late. So deciding not to waste any time in sitting around, Naruto delved inside the scroll for a quick gander through it to learn a couple of jutsu. And lo and behold, the curse of the clone jutsu had still plagued him at this current time, or did it? It turns out that this was a more advanced B-A class clone jutsu. This may have been the answer to all of his problems, and what was even better was that there was also info explaining the uses of shadow clones.

Apparently, they could transfer what they learn to the original, but not physical memory. However, the downside to it was that they were quite fragile. Naruto hummed at this information, but also grew interested by another piece of information that could help him buff up the power of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It says in the scroll that the jutsu itself could in fact be buffed by transfusing them with some of the user's blood, like a few drops of it. This only works if the user has also learned the blood clone jutsu which was an S class forbidden technique and was also conveniently right next to the shadow clone variant. Naruto, ignoring he forbidden part about the jutsu, instantly dived into the scroll and trained furiously in order to learn and master both of the jutsu quickly. Every normal shinobi would've given up at this point as it would've taken them years to do it, especially the S class jutsu. However, Naruto wasn't normal; he was the opposite of normal. He had learnt both of the jutsu at an abnormally fast rate and mastered them both just before the time limit expired.

The shadow clone jutsu was by far the easiest to learn, but the blood clone jutsu was to be used with both blood and chakra which made it exceptionally difficult to learn and master. The aim was to cut open a small wound anywhere on his body and to manipulate that blood into a form similar to his own body. The training itself was painful, but Naruto could live through the pain as he had suffered far worse during his childhood. Although, both his stamina and endurance to pain were not the only things keeping him going. His Uzumaki genes, along with a certain Bijuu sealed in his body were in fact assisting him with the brief 2 hour training learning session immensely.

After nearly two hours of storming through the jutsu, he had learnt and mastered them in just under a two hour window. Naruto grinned in triumph over his success. Now he would definitely pass, so now all he had to do was wait for Mizuki. After a short wait of two minutes, he heard movements in the treeline. Thinking it was Mizuki he decided to investigate, but what Naruto didn't know was that there were strings being pulled from behind the scenes by certain people in the council. Namely two of the three elders and a large majority of the civilian council had gotten word that Naruto failed. The council smirked victoriously as they successfully sabotaged most of his graduation exam, but before they could plot a sinister attack that would've no doubt be foiled yet again, they made an agreement with an envoy from this… empire across the ocean. The envoy had wished to gather orphans, but due to the Hokage, he couldn't gather orphans under the watchful eyes of the leader of the hidden village. So what he did next was to get in contact with the civilian council and the two elders and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Since they could not gather orphans, so why not choose any person that would not be missed, like prisoners for example, and the answer they provided was the village's demon brat. The envoy accepted their proposition and didn't question as to why they immediately recommended this particular boy.

So what happened next was Naruto being swarmed by chunins, some jonins and a few Anbu under the council's payroll. Naruto panicked as he recognized their hostility and before he could get into a fighting stance and defend himself, an ox mask Anbu had appeared behind him and slammed a cloth over his face laced with ninja grade chloroform that could knock a person out in seconds. Before Naruto fell limp he heard them talking. "Hey! We could've had a quick beating session with the demon here." Said a chunin. "Don't bother, the sooner we get rid of him the better." an Anbu replied back to him. "Besides from what we have heard about this empire, It's the best place for demons like him to be in." a random jonin smirked to himself before Naruto fell into unconsciousness.

A few days later he awoke by the motions of a rocking room and the sound of water crashing into the side of a ship. He then woke up to find himself locked up in a cell and chained to the wall. He remembered what had happened moments before and was outraged by the betrayal. He thrashed and shouted out in fury as he smashed his shackles and chains on the wall. The action only called the guards in and they brought out their batons and started beating him across his body and face to get him to shut up, but Naruto defied them by simply glaring at them back which only caused them to put more effort into their torture. After ten minutes of brutal and constant beatings, Naruto laid on the wall limply as blood splattered across the walls and was trailing down his body as bruises formed in a lot of places that darkened his skin black, blue and purple.

At that moment, the envoy decided to step in to inform Naruto of his fate, He was to be sold into slavery for any buyers that were interested in exotic types. Naruto's heart sank in despair, his dreams were slashed apart by the selfishness and prejudice hostilities that the council had for him and sold him to an empire located thousands of miles away across the ocean west of hi no kuni and the elemental nations. What hope that was left for Naruto was to assure himself that his jiji would save him, but that hope was crushed when he was informed that he was knocked out for five days and they would reach one of the port towns of the Empire shortly and not once were they intercepted by Konoha-nin along the way.

This made Naruto realize that he had been abandoned by his own village. He wasn't an authorized shinobi as he had failed it previously so that would still make him a civilian and he was more or less hated by a vast majority of the village, including a majority of the shinobi forces. The Hokage, his jiji, had failed in protecting him time and time again as he could not control his own shinobi forces that went behind his back just to harm the bijuu container out of petty revenge, spite, hatred, grief and fear. This was the final straw when he declared that he would not forgive them, not this time or ever. Now he was miles away from home and his chakra was suppressed due to a collar locked tight around his neck that had seals inscribed on them to negate his chakra provided by the council.

Over the past five years, he gained some understanding of the basic knowledge of what the Empire was after he had been tossed around from master to master. By far the worst of the lot was a family of aristocrats that secretly got their rocks off by torturing country bumpkins or, in his case, foreigners like himself. He was given to this girl named Aria who was perhaps a year younger than him. The girl appeared very pretty on the outside just from that smile of hers and the cute frilly white and blue dress she wore. However, during those five years, Naruto discovered that he could sense what was underneath her surface thanks to a certain fox (We'll get to that later.)

He knew that it was all a ruse. They introduced themselves as a kind and generous noble family and they gave him food and a nice warm bed to sleep in. That all immediately changed the following night when the guards stormed into his room and dragged him off to a shed located in the back. There he found a horrific sight of all of the victims that suffered from the deception of a seemingly kind and honest family. Aria by far disturbed him the most as he could not fathom how a sweet 12 year old child had the look of a sadistic psychopath and that cruel and twisted smile of hers was the most hideous smile he had ever seen on a girl.

They described these torture sessions as evening hobbies that they revelled in so much. They first used numerous torture devices to break his skin apart, then his muscles and then bones. Then they used hot iron to burn holes into his torso before Aria's mother injected him with a vile filled with a contagion known as Lubora disease. He didn't know what it was supposed to do to the victim, because his body was immune to most if not all known diseases, and the other tortures didn't break him as he just simply healed and taunted them over and over again. After a whole month of seemingly endless torture, they gave up and sold him to another buyer who had an interest in him.

This person was the reason why he was working in the mines in deplorable conditions. In addition to being really dusty, the mines were also cold, unstable in various places and the guards were brutal to any slackers. The person who bought him was the head chief/ governess of the mine. She stood at 5'10 and her body structure and muscles were exceptionally toned, taut and well-conditioned, not in the sense that they were overly done, but in a very good way, especially if this person was an aristocrat… military training maybe? She had swept back platinum blond hair with double bangs that reached her left and right eyebrows that complemented her amber coloured eyes. She often wore a respirator when she travelled down the mine for inspection and a leather coat that contained a large set of DDs inside and skin tight leather pants with black combat boots and black finger-less gloves. On her side fastened to a holster was her signature weapon, or as it was famously known throughout this land, a teigu. Her weapon consisted of a grey metallic whip with thorns covering the majority of it. Some say that each teigu grants a special ability to the user.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by an unfortunate soul screaming in blood-curdling agony from somewhere down the tunnel above the catwalk located at the primary lift as he heard the infamous sound of her whip lashing against some poor bastard's exposed back. Apparently the whip has the ability to intensify pain by multiplying the damage being received from the victim by X2, X4 or up to X10. Most couldn't handle the X2 pain intensity and some rarely reach the third intensity. Only Naruto exceeded the expectations of withstanding the thorn covered whip "Belmont" up to the 8th intensifier and now coming up to the 9th. It didn't take long for the screams to die out as the whip claimed her latest victim.

"Ara? Another one died again… *Sigh!* How disappointing, they're so weak!" she groaned in frustration.

"Mam, what shall we do with the body?" one guard asked.

"Dump him into one of the pits along with the rest." She flippantly answered as she was disappointed by this man's weakness and dying too soon to satisfy her. The guards lifted the body up and walked straight over to a hole that was right next to Naruto and then dumped the body into the hole as it plunged into the deep dark abyss, crashing against the walls and then a loud squelching thud was heard. This type of thing was normal around the mines, if any miners were to die through an accident or killed from disciplinary punishment from the guards, they would pick a hole that was disused or disbanded and dump all of the bodies in that hole like a massive unmarked burial grave. If the smell got too bad then they will either burn them or bury them under rubble after they blast it with dynamite.

Naruto knew that person as well, he warned him that he could not keep on bailing him out those other times, because he was weak and exhausted from the continuous labour. So he slacked off most of the time and unfortunately for him, he was caught doing it by her no less. No matter how hard this line of work was, her iron clad rules stated that there was no slacking allowed on the job or you will be disciplined… harshly and brutally. Since he first started in the mines, he did cause some trouble for the guards, which in return got him a severe beating, but that was nothing compared to the beatings he usually received by Konoha's angry drunken mobs that never held back, but neither did they.

"Ohayo Naru-kun~!" sang a muffled, yet sweet and lovely sounding voice that noticeably brightened up after the same person, who brutally killed a mining slave from her deadly whip. Naruto looked up upon the catwalk above him and saw the governess of the mine.

"Ohayo to you too Karasu-chan" Naruto replied back kindly with nod and a friendly wave back with no sense of hesitance or fear. The particular friendly action disgruntled the nearby miners. It was well known in the mines that Naruto was Karasu's favorite slave or toy in her words. Lady Karasu was a grade A+, bordering S class, sadist and masochist just behind the number one sadist and imperial general Esdeath. Despite the fact that Esdeath loved torturing the weak like pathetic bugs under her boot, Karasu was the opposite. Karasu loved torturing victims that can endure through even the worst amounts of pain, because her victims pain is like an aphrodisiac to her that is intoxicating no matter how much she does it to other victims. If the victims who are weak willed die or pass out too quickly from the pain, because their hearts and minds can't take it, she becomes incredibly frustrated and starts to take it out on even more victims until she is satisfied, which unfortunately meant everyone in the mine. Most of the slaves were very weak due to the living conditions of the mine and a large majority of the miners were cowards. Noticing that she could inadvertently slaughter the whole population of miners due to her sexual sadistic tension withdrawal, Naruto willingly sacrificed himself for the miner's sake so they wouldn't face her sadistic wrath… at least not as much.

The torture sessions he had with her would be something like love at first sight for Karasu. No matter how hard she struck him or how much power she put into her whips, Naruto always stood his ground defying her and he always held back his shouts and screams of pain whenever she turns the pain intensity up. Despite the fact that he could heal his wounds, that special ability in fact excited her more and made her more eager to experiment. This all happened when he was fourteen and she was 17-18 mind you, now she is 20. She tried all manner of torture on him, but Naruto had quickly gotten used to the pain and shrugged it off. The tenacity and endurance only added more to the reasons why Karasu was beginning to fall for him, but she couldn't release him as Naruto was one of the best miners in the mine, and he was a slave according to general Budo, her supreme commander who was the likeliest person to be against it.

Karasu's military rank is lieutenant colonel so with her position she could make his life easier in the mines. Naruto was no fool as he had been forced to wake up to reality, knew that she harboured feelings for him… odd feelings, but nonetheless they were true honest feelings of love in its own twisted way. He knew that it would really piss off the miners. They would probably accuse him of blatant favouritism, but sometimes Naruto would have to accept opportunities presented by the devil from time to time. He was no saint, nor was he truly evil as he grew up in a village of killers so he was no stranger to evil. He started off when he was fourteen with just a plain cotton t shirt and ragged brown trousers and if you were lucky you could get yourself shoes that had seen better days. The only equipment he had was a duffel bag with a leather shoulder strap, a steel pick axe, a sledgehammer, and an oil lantern with torches provided.

As the years went by, her affection for Naruto grew, as did the amount of gifts she brought him. She had been really generous only to him as she provided him with the appropriate mining equipment and even the latest tech for mining. He even got permission to mine his own personal tunnel that no one was allowed in. He had been given the clothing and accessories such as the goggles and the gloves he was wearing now, as well as the mining drill he held in his hands. If Naruto had to be honest with himself, he felt touched at receiving such great gifts… Well, just a little, as he realized that if he accepted them, then it would make him a really selfish man in the eyes of the many miners. He had no choice anyway, they did not know her like he did and she may very well just kill him for rejecting her as he refused to test that because he reckoned that she might just do that if he did as he knew that there was more to that whip then just mere pain.

"So how's your day been?~" she said in her melodic tone through her respirator and she leaned over the railing, resting her arms and voluptuous chest on the railing.

"Not too bad actually, I found another large patch of rare orichalcum ore and rich iron ore in my hole recently. I was just heading my way over to the exchange point."

Karasu eye smiled in joy "An excellent job as always Naru-kun." Before she could say anything else a resentful miner chose this unfortunate time to barge into Naruto rudely while making it seem like an accident, but the intent was clear to him as he could see it in his eyes. Unfortunately for him, he was unaware of how deep he was in the shitter. The next thing he knew was *BANG!* and his blood and bits of his brain splattered over the floor as he crashed down on the floor in a lifeless heap.

'Baka…did he not realise that she was clearly watching above us on the catwalk or has the overwork in these mines made him delirious?' Naruto angrily thought about the man.

"Anyone who dares to touch or hurt my Naru-kun shall die by my hands. Only I get to do that." Karasu stated coldly to which the nearby miners shivered at the tone in fear and the guards flinched from their spots as they had done a few brutal beatings on Naruto as they could feel her deathly killing intent and were feeling a bit disturbed by the feeling. Naruto looked back up from the dead body lying by his feet, and looked back at Karasu. She was brutal as always when it comes to him. He was treading on thin ice enough as it is with his relationship with Karasu and the slaves. Nobody trusted him after what he did, despite what he was doing for them.

"Clean up!" she shouted for the nearby guards to drag the body away and for them to dump him into the pit. Then she looked back down and looked apologetic. "I'm so sorry you had to see that, it is very dangerous in these mines and it sort of has me on edge."

"Dangerous?" he wondered what this was all about. The mine was always a danger hazard. 'She must mean something else.' He thought.

"Oh yes! If I were you I wouldn't trust anyone, especially down here. Rumours say that those Revolutionary Army scum fucks have infiltrated my mine. MY MINE!" she said tensely as she clenched her fist on the railing, causing it to dent, bend and groan before calming down. "But it's best not to talk here. If anything I shall find you and we can have dinner tonight." She said happily with a joyous eye smile and Naruto could swear that he could see love hearts hovering above her head.

'Interesting… it seems that things are getting more heated out there, but I'd rather not get involved. Not until I get stronger myself, and get rid of this seal.' He scowled at the thought of that cursed seal that locked up his chakra for years and he still could not find a way to get rid of it. Sure he may have enhanced strength from the chakra which was what benefited him down in the mines, but it would be suicidal if he were to escape on his own without any sort of plan or anything to defend himself with. Deciding to think on it later he decided to accept the invitation, because he could certainly use more information to learn more about these revolutionaries.

"Sure why not. Just have to deliver my load of minerals and even some gems to the exchange point and then I have to do my next shift down on floor thirteen. So, shall I see you at nine tonight?" he nodded to her, accepting her invitation. Karasu clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Oh that would do just fine! I trust that you won't be long and neither shall I. Meet me at my quarters tonight, the guards shall let you in." she said excitedly before turning on her heel and skipped down the catwalk while humming a happy tune to herself behind the respirator which made it sound more disturbing to nearby miners.

Naruto shook his head at her antics. She's a sweet woman once you get to know the non-lethal aspects about her. Deciding not to waste any more time, he walked over the trail of blood from the previous slave that was now being dragged towards the pit. A few minutes later he reached the exchange point located on the ground floor in the main entrance hall. This was where the miners can drop off their loads of rich minerals, ores or gems that they have discovered in the mines. In exchange, they could use a form of currency which is like credits on pieces of paper that they could use to either buy food, equipment, apparels or accessories. This method was actually an idea of Naruto's that he suggested that they could use to motivate the miners instead of beating them to work. If they were not getting anything out of it then they would be unmotivated to actually work instead of giving a sort of reward to make them feel like they accomplished something. Needless to say it has worked, but occasionally it did bring in some problems such as theft, brawls over their money, killing for their money, or dumping the responsibility on someone else to do the work for them and then claim credit for it. Naruto sighed at their actions over this. There was no sense of unity between the miners as they were mostly acting out of desperation.

Once he arrived at the stall for the exchange point he was greeted by the Inspector. This man's job was to inspect with great detail on the value, quantity and quality of the items found in the mines. There were also bonuses if they managed to find items in the mines like ancient relics or artifacts of any sort. So far Naruto had managed to discover several items most of which included treasure chests and ancient relics that raised many questions and piqued many researchers interests as one of them was cursed and killed all of the miners and guards that were nearby before Naruto snapped the head off a voodoo doll and broke the curse completely. Each and every item found in the mines can make a person exceptionally rich, but it could also make them a target. Many have tried in desperate attempts to rob him of his hard earned money. Most of them were weak miners that were either too lazy to work or were incapable and would often lead them to receive severe punishments from the guards which could lead to their deaths.

To everyone in the mine, the credit system was their lifeline, If they ran out of credits in the mine they will die unless they retrieve a fresh batch of ore from the mines. If their tools break and they have no credits or spares, then they will die unless someone is willing to help them. Not to mention that there were also plenty of hazardous places within the mines. The supports were sometimes loose and could cause a tunnel to cave in if something were to accidentally knock into them and bring the whole ceiling down on their heads. Therefore TNT was used with extreme caution and careful supervision as plenty of inexperienced miners have died due to igniting the gunpowder supply by either dropping a torch onto it or an unstable lantern ignited the black powder. There were also highly flammable and explosive gases down in the mines that leaked through the cracks in the wall. Not to mention that there were sometimes danger beasts burrowed deep inside the tunnel networks that the miners could risk disturbing. If they were to disturb these danger beasts then the guards or the governess will have to be called in to clear out the caverns or simply blast and block off the mine shafts that prevent the beasts or the miners any entry or exit out of the mines.

After waiting in line for the queue to dwindle down and to hear the man call out his name or for the next person to come to the counter to drop off their delivery of ore, gems or any miscellaneous items found in the mines. He approached the counter and placed his duffel bag on top of it and opened it up to reveal the contents of the bag. The inspector widened his eyes at the amount of rich ores that were in there as well as the variety of other things. The mines were famous for their richness, as well as the variety of the many ores and gems that resided in them.

"Well, it seems you've had another successful run in the mines yet again Uzumaki. Now let's see here… yep you have plenty of iron ore which you are lucky to get as they are in high demand, as well as Orichalcum ore, some copper ore, and... what's this? Gold, diamond and silver ore… you've broken yet another record Uzumaki. Your luck simply baffles me."

He smiled as he pulled away his loupe away from his eye (In case if you were wondering what a loupe is, it is that tool used by gemologists to inspect certain gems like a mini scope or magnifying glass) and took out wads of paper credits from underneath the counter and slammed it on top of it. The total stacked up to 450,000 worth of credits (I'm not brilliant at math, I have looked the worth of gems up and it is quite complicated as there are many things to consider about the worth of a gem) onto the counter and Naruto accepted it and flicked through each paper and nodded in satisfaction. He thanked the inspector and pocketed all of the credits into his interior coat pocket and he left the area feeling the many glares and grudges from several miners. At times he could hear them whispering in the shadows of the mines. They whispered words like "Traitor", "You're not one of us", "The devil's plaything" "Empire's favourite". All of that bullshit made him snort. Why does he still try to help them, when all they do is blame him for their suffering? They love to hold grudges and they know how to wear it proudly like a crown. If anyone were to have the privilege to hold grudges against others it would no doubt be the slaves. It was only a matter of time before they lash out against their masters.

'But what would they do to me?' Naruto thought.

Now that he thought of what Karusu mentioned, there were some disturbances in the mines. Guards were disappearing in the tunnels and all of a sudden the miners looked more determined about something. As soon as he thought about what could be the reason, he soon turned the corner and found the mess hall for all the slaves. It was there where he found his answer. Using his enhanced senses that he had been born with, he learned that the miners had their own leader… Kaname Shinsui. This man was the same age as Naruto and he arrived about a month ago. Naruto did not know much about him, but he knew something about him rubbed him the wrong way. He was eerily similar to his past self that he used to act like. This guy came in the mine with a great shining toothy smile like nothing ever bothered him. The guy never gave up, he encouraged others, helped others and even defended others. All of this, he did openly in front of others, while Naruto helped from the shadows yet nobody knew, nor would they believe him if he told them. So he gave up trying to convince them and let them be. The man had light reddish hair that was spiky on the front, but his hair was tied up in a ponytail that trailed down to his lower neck. He had the standard uniform that freshman miners start out with, but only wore with a brown withered leather coat and brown finger-less gloves along with the uniform.

Kaname was conversing with several miners; only this conversation sounded more like a strategy plan. They were planning to do something rash and Naruto thought it was best not to get involved. So he went on his way to work. That fool was too headstrong and would always charge into the thick of things. He knew he was a strong, close range fighter, but Naruto saw what these guards were packing. He had never seen these kinds of weapons back in the elemental nations, they were called guns. While they did look bulky and impractical for a ninja, he couldn't help but admit that it had potential to become a very powerful weapon that could rival most shinobi skills and weapons. He heard that the Empire did use guns in its armies, but they were rather limited in some areas as some generals preferred the traditional use of melee combat as they think that using guns are for the weak. Why though? Why not capitalise on this weapon in favour of the melee weapons? With enough guns you could simply siege a city in half the time it would usually take, and most battle formations would prove useless if they can't reach the soldiers firing at them behind defensive emplacements.

The only way to counter guns is to be faster than the user who is firing at them. Naruto has seen the power of a gun first-hand and the speed and power of it intrigued him. Only problem was that the user may not be an accurate or fast shooter and some of the guns lacked something that would help the user's aim with the weapon and some of the weapons looked a bit too bulky and impractical. Mostly the soldiers or guards would simply point at the target and spray them with full auto/semi auto gunfire and hope they would hit their target. Knowing the slaves, they would rush at their targets in desperate suicidal attempts to breach through their defences. Naruto thought nothing of it for now and decided to go back to work.

Naruto reached the main lift and once he was inside the cage-like lift he pressed the twelfth floor button and went down into the deepest depths of the mine. He was on his own on the lift and two minutes later he reached the twelfth floor. This floor was officially the deepest area of the mine known to everyone as the gas catacombs. This place was known to leak out explosive methane gas coming from the abundance of bituminous coal that was very common down here. Only the daring would come down as one wrong move would spell their deaths. Also it was essential that they own their own gas mask once they come down here. Once Naruto saw the sign he reached up to his face and pulled away his face scarf and pulled up his respirator hidden underneath the scarf and attached it to his face and secured it in place so it wouldn't be loose. He attached his oxygen supply to his mask as he brought a spare oxygen tank once he was at the surface with a tank resting on his back right next to the power supply for his drill.

He walked through the maze like tunnels of the 12th floor. Along the way he would catch the occasional glare of working miners, and a couple of miners passed out due to oxygen failure from their masks and died or they simply didn't keep an eye on their supply. It wasn't until he walked 57 steps into the mine that he felt a vibration of what seemed like a bomb blast. His eyes widened as he dived straight to the floor and covered his head. A few seconds later a raging inferno of highly combustible gas was racing through the tunnels and incinerated everything in its path. The fire flew over Naruto's body as he managed to find a well dug in trench that covered him enough from the fiery blast to pass by. After a few brief seconds the fire passed on as the area's methane gas had burnt up in the blast.

"There goes another one" Naruto mumbled to himself as he mentioned the amateur miners who were not too careful with what they were doing on the twelfth floor. Luckily the apparels he had on protected him from the heat as they were highly heat resistant and very durable. Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for the other miners. He saw that there was a young lad who was screaming in pain as his mask was melted into his face. Noticing the man's agony Naruto attempted to move in to help the poor lad, but his friends already moved to help him and cut him off. Their glares told him that he was not welcome despite the thought of wanting to help. Naruto, catching the message, decided that he overstayed his welcome and moved on before he could get into trouble with the miners or the guards that were already on their way so he moved quickly to avoid their thrashing.

He walked further into the tunnels of the twelfth floor and soon reached a lone elevator with a sign in red saying "Level thirteen: Keep out!" this elevator that led straight down to the unofficial deepest pit of the entire mine was Naruto's private mining spot. Originally the miners who used to work in floor thirteen were all massacred after they dug too deep and discovered a nest of danger beasts that looked like beefed up giant moles with sharp teeth and malicious claws. It was left alone until Karasu personally slaughtered the danger beasts and gave the whole floor to Naruto as a special gift.

Since he had the thirteenth floor to himself, he set up a secondary home in the guard's quarters that was previously stationed down there. He had everything he needed down there, such as a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a storage unit and a work shop. The best thing was that no one was allowed down there, not even the guards. Karasu trusted him enough not to cause trouble as she does occasionally come down to the thirteenth floor herself to have secret visits.

Naruto took out his special key and inserted it into the keyhole in a panel on the left side of the lift and opened the panel to reveal a red button that Naruto soon pressed. The lift opened up to reveal an elevator that was more like a cage that can fit only four people. Naruto stepped inside before locking the panel so no one could use it and pressed the button for down on the inside elevator panel. The lift took ten minutes to go all the way down and the only company he had was a flickering light inside the elevator that made the ride more eerie than comforting. This was no trip to a fun place. It felt more like descending into the pits of hell as the screeches of the elevator echoed into the abyss. At last he reached the thirteenth floor and he opened the elevator gate to let himself off.

Straight to his left was the guards quarters and he headed inside. Once he entered, he flicked on the lights and the whole room lit up with an industrial grade white light. He took off his boots to go straight to the kitchen and cooked himself a nice meal before heading back into the mines. He opened up his bag and picked out a package of what was, and still is his favourite food… Ramen. Naruto sighed in content and opened up the delicious package and poured it's contents into a boiling pot with water already poured in. Twenty five minutes later his meal was ready and he got a bowl out of one of the cupboards and placed it on a metal table and he sat down to eat his hot meal.

"Itadakimasu" he mumbled out before he pulled down his respirator to eat in silence and by himself with the white light being his only company. Sometimes he used moments like this to reflect back on his life, wondering if his jiji was okay. Sure he was still a bit resentful of him, but it wasn't entirely his fault as he could not trust his own shinobi forces to do their jobs and to know better. Then he thought back to the Ichirakus as they were the only civilians, except for a blacksmith and his adopted, formerly orphaned daughter that allowed him in his shop along with another orphan from the same orphanage. He still missed their ramen, as it was the best ramen he would ever taste and would never get close enough to taste their flavour with his own cooking. Then there was the only non-corrupted and fair academy instructor Iruka. Sure he was hard on him most of the time, but he meant well. Then there was that strange guy with the most extreme fuzzy brows he had ever seen since he had known Rock Lee, and he was dressed in a full body green jumpsuit with orange striped legwarmers. He was as cool as he was weird. He did help him with his taijutsu and physical conditioning as he was the best guy for the job in that department. By far he was the friendliest jonin he had ever met. Next there was the tokubetsu jonin, Anko Mitarashi. At first she sacred him, but once he got to know her she was generally a cool person to hang out with as they were both very similar in personalities and life. Not to mention that there were three Anbu that had always looked out for him when he was a child. Cat always remained close by, Dog was reassigned elsewhere, possibly left the Anbu, and Weasel… He went quiet after the Uchiha massacre and hadn't heard from him since. And Mikoto… still hadn't woken up yet.

After finishing a satisfactory meal of ramen he gave out a satisfied sigh and cleaned up after himself. "Well… time to go to work". He reattached his respirator to the lower part of his face and placed the goggles on and turned on his flashlight that was attached to his coat where his right pectoral muscle was and headed out of the quarters and into the mines. After several minutes of walking he reached the end of the tunnel he was currently working on as he spotted that this area was rich with a variety of minerals and on occasion, gems were also available down here. He looked at the walls to inspect a good spot to start drilling. He found a spot after rubbing dust off the walls surface and found a shiny surface that looked promising. Nodding to himself, he started up his drill and began to chip away at the resource that would supply his income, as well as the Empire's. But before that he plugged in some earphones that Karasu recommended he try. She gave him a portable music player device that stored thousands of music/songs on it.

They never had anything of the sort back in the elemental nations, 'were we really that far behind in terms of technology?' he thought to himself. After plugging in his headphones that would block out any sound from the outside so it wouldn't interfere with the song playing. After selecting a random song that oddly enough fitted the atmosphere of his job, he set out to work.

 **(Rammstein: Sonne the music video)**

His job was especially hard as no one would willingly work with him. This caused him problems in the past, hence he would be called many things, but the one name that wasn't an insult to him was "The Lone Miner" and it suited him just fine. The work was very difficult to do by himself, but he always pulled through with his enhanced strength, godlike stamina and willpower made of steel. The drill pounded away at the walls of the mine as dust flew everywhere and steam venting out of the drill. Naruto felt the power of the recoil in his arms as they were tensing up to control the drill and keep it on its mark. Just as the song was about to end, the drill punched through the wall and pieces of the wall crumbled as if it were hollow. Naruto turned off the drill and his music as he stared into the hole and began to inspect it. He pulled out a powerful flashlight out of one of his many pockets and shone it through the hole. He found that the hollow wall actually led to a room. Naruto being the curious person that he was, decided that he should head back and fetch a sledgehammer, but changed his mind as he was no weakling. All it needed was a good strong kick.

 ***Boom!*** The whole wall collapsed as Naruto's augmented kick easily overpowered the hollow wall. Luckily the chakra nullifying seal did nothing to his strength so he was fine with the physical labour. He brought his black metallic flashlight out again and shone it into the now open and dusty room. Naruto noticed that this room looked incredibly ancient, like a thousand years old or such. Ancient texts littered the wall, but were mostly faded so he could not read most of them. However, it was the centre of the room that caught his interest. In the centre of the room stood a chest high pedestal that housed an old wooden box. Naruto approached the pedestal and carefully picked up the box to see if it would trigger any traps. After shifting the box and then lifting it up slightly, it didn't trigger anything so far.

'Did the traps wither away due to old age? Or were they so confident that it would never be found?' Naruto shrugged to himself and decided to open the box. What was inside was something that looked practically brand new, but the thing looked far older and had an aura of power shrouding it. What was inside was an amulet. In the centre of it was a pitch black sphere that looked as if he were staring into the darkest depths of abyssal darkness and surrounding the sphere were three metallic silver fins facing downwards and with the silver chain attached to the top of the amulet. Naruto thought that this looked very cool, but somewhere deep down; he felt a mysterious aura shrouding it, like it was calling for him. Naruto shook his head and decided to keep quiet about it for now and went back to work as this discovery was going to set him back a bit and he didn't want to be late for tonight.

Deciding to keep his load of ores at a reasonable level so he wouldn't waste any more time in the mines, he set off for the exchange point to drop off his delivery and then afterwards head off to get changed and cleaned up. On the way he sensed that something was odd. The miners were very hushed up about something and once he turned the corner and he spotted Kaname and a group of miners that were his followers and they were acting very suspicious. He spotted the body of an unconscious guard and he was without the keys on his belt as they were in Kaname's hand. Kaname was smirking and grinning victoriously at the act that he did. Naruto looked at the key that he had and noticed what keys they were. They were the keys that led to the main areas on the ground floor like the armoury, barracks, dungeon cells, but most importantly the key to the main elevator that leads up to the ground floor entrance and outside of the mine.

They were planning a breakout, a very badly planned one that was going to be a massacre if he caused a mass riot in the mines. As Naruto was observing them, two miners approached him from behind and were about to grab him only for Naruto to grab their hands and twist them and kick their legs to knock them to the ground and pin them both to the ground with their arms behind their backs. Unfortunately, this alerted the other miners and they quickly surrounded them. The miners looked very eager to attack him and just as Naruto was about to get into a stance, Kaname suddenly rushed in between them.

"Matte! Matte! Calm down everyone."

"But Kaname he's with them, I'm sure of it." said a random miner who hated Naruto's guts.

"But he can help us get out, right?" Kaname turned to Naruto with a smile.

Naruto frowned behind his hood, goggles and respirator. 'Damn him' he thought. He must be one of the revolutionary spies Karasu was on about. He was instigating a rebellion in these mines and he forced him to act or he would not be going anywhere.

"I practically know these mines like the back of my hand, even the surface for that matter." Naruto stated.

"Yeah because that she demon always allows you to the surface so you can fuck her in a nice clean bedroom while we are stuck down here in these cursed mines." A miner snarled.

Naruto said nothing, he wouldn't deny the facts that Karasu was evil, but she was very kind to her precious person, namely himself. Unfortunately, the unintended selfishness had caused such a massive rift to open up between him and the miners, that he was treated with hostility. Kaname gave a look to his fellow miner and commanded him to shut up and smiled at the bit of information as he knew he was honest about it. "Really?... That's awesome! With your help then we can tear down this mine for good and obtain our freedom!" he said loudly and in obnoxious happiness that irked Naruto a bit.

"Are you serious?" Naruto stared at him in disbelief. 'He cannot seriously be this stupid?' he thought as he was certain that his planning was going to get him killed.

"Nani?" he blinked.

"Don't play around! These are people's lives we're talking about here that you are planning to sacrifice so you and many others can get of this fucking place! Do you even have a solid plan!?"

"Plan?... All we need is the trust in each other to pull through this and fight our way out or die trying." He said with conviction.

"That's utter bullshit Kaname! Every fight needs a plan, and every plan has steps in obtaining it."

Kaname snorted "Whatever man, I believe in my friends more than you will ever do with me." he openly sneered at Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth in rage. He was going to get himself and many others killed. He may have inspired others to fight back, but for what!? Many miners may not survive the breakout, and if they did? What are the chances of them being hunted down and caught again? Would it really be worth it?

So Kaname and the group took Naruto with them as a guide of sorts. They proceeded through the long labyrinths of tunnels in the mines to avoid the patrolling guards. They then found themselves in a large clearing where they decided to stop and rest for a bit. Naruto himself was literally being kept on a short leash as he was kept under watch by these two miners that were beefed up with muscles and held very strong resentment for Naruto. Naruto said nothing and kept quiet, he was watching them conversing with each other. They looked as if they had no worries at all and acted like nothing bad was going to happen.

'What are these idiots doing? They should be keeping an eye out for Karasu's guards or worse…' Naruto discreetly took out his wristwatch and saw the time and his eyes widened in alarm behind his goggles. 'Shit! It's well past the time I agreed to meet up with Karasu. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Now she's going to be looking for me with her own Special Forces unit that she's in charge of! I have to warn them…!'

"Kanam-!" just as he was about to shout out Kaname's name he was smacked on the back of his head by the two men watching him and ordered him to shut up, but in the cover of the shadows the lieutenant's eyes of Karasu's elite special forces widened and gave out the order for the spec ops unit and they immediately made their move and engaged them. They opened fire with their own assault rifles and SMGs that slaughtered the miners. Blood splattered everywhere as bullets punched their way through their unprotected skin and apparels. Naruto hid behind the two burly men that hit him earlier and used their bodies as cover. He tried to peek over their bodies only for a bullet to hit the body and have blood splashed on his face. Not once did he fight back, he could have but he could sense her coming his way.

After less than two minutes of the nonstop, one sided killing spree of helpless and outmatched rebel miners, over thirty miners were left dead. The Spec ops unit left the cover of the shadows and were revealed to be wearing pitch black jumpsuits with black flak jackets and elbow, knee and shin pads along with black face masks and black goggles. In their hands, were lighter versions of the weapons that the guards were holding. They rounded up the survivors which happened to be only three and one of them was Naruto and the others was some random miner he had never seen before and the other that was glaring bloody daggers at him as if he suspected that they were here for Naruto. Naruto and the others were ordered to lay on the ground next to each other with his hands behind his head. Naruto took a quick glance around and noticed that in the room of corpses, Kaname wasn't with them. He somehow slipped away when the battle began and that made Naruto even more furious with him as he just proved his point.

"You fucking traitor you lead them to us!" the third man was spitting curses at him in a fit of fury and before he could break out of the elite soldier's grip he was put down with a single brutal headshot. Naruto just laid on the ground unmoving and feeling indifferent about everything. He felt tired about this, sick of it even. Why does he even bother with this? Why does he always try and gain their trust when all he gets is put down and treated as if he was the villain? Before anything could get worse, Karasu arrived on the scene to bare witness to the aftermath of the slaughter and she didn't look pleased at all. She groaned in the palm of her hands and clicked her tongue in annoyance and approached the one in charge of the whole assault. "I distinctly remember saying stop the slaves. Yes? Not shoot the slaves. I'm very particular with my words. Stop. Shoot. STOP! SHOOT! Do those words sound…the same?" She said in an ice cold tone as she pressed her fingers together as she spoke to a very nervous commander who was visibly sweating.

"But it got out of control…." He tried to reason with her.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you. What did you say?" She placed a strong gripping hand on his shoulders as she went closer to his face.

"It got out of control." his voice croaked loudly as her aura was spiking and she was oozing her KI out.

"It got out of control…" she nodded but her tone was laced with increasing anger. "I hate it when things get out of control." She said before pulling out a small knife out of a sheath attached to her wrist and pulled the officer down to the floor effortlessly. As he was slammed to the ground and Karasu began to straddle him, she then proceeded to stab him repeatedly in the face and his neck.

"You had one fucking job and you couldn't fucking do that!" She grunted out with each stab. As she finished she exhaled out in frustration and she spotted something that she wasn't pleased with. "And you've gotten your blood on my favourite shoes! I was saving that for my date with Naru-kun tonight." She gritted her teeth, but as soon as she mentioned his name she spotted him in the corner of her eye and sighed in relief that he was unharmed.

"Ohhh! At least there is a silver lining. You didn't completely fuck it up" she said in relief towards the now dead commander. Karasu approached Naruto and helped him up onto his feet and brushed the dust off his shoulders. "I recognize those goggles and that scarf anywhere." She said humourlessly as she hugged Naruto closely to her chest. "I am so sorry that you had to go through all of that. Truth is I was very worried about you after you didn't turn up and I heard about reports that some of these slaves were not present at their posts."

Naruto awkwardly hugged back as many of the soldiers were watching them "I'm fine Karu-chan. I was just dragged along with them as I bumped into them by mistake as they realized that they could use me." Naruto comforted Karasu as he rubbed her back gently.

Karasu clenched her fists tightly in seething anger "Those bastards dare use you as a tool for their own gain… Unforgivable! I will round them up tear out every skin, muscle and bone from their bodies while I keep them alive and refuse them a quick death." She growled.

"Karu-chan I'm fine. They didn't hurt me that much…"

"Nani!" she screamed with a mix of shock and anger. She then proceeded to fuss about the bruise on the back of his head. She demanded to know who was responsible and Naruto pointed to the two burly men that were already dead. Karasu grabbed a nearby soldier's assault rifle that was fully loaded and discharged the whole magazine of every round into their bodies and reloaded several times as they exploded in blood and gore. After the rifle was partially melted and she demanded for another magazine from the other soldiers, they told her they were out of ammo. She then threw the rifle at them and hit one of them on the skull. She breathed in through her nose deeply through the respirator and was making heavy breathing noises in order to calm down. "I'm fine… just need that to …*twitch!* calm down!" she tried in vain to calm down.

"Errr… about that date?" Naruto voiced out and instantly Karasu calmed down and jumped up in Naruto's face. "Oooh! I almost forgot about that! Well let's not waste any more time!" she said enthusiastically before dragging Naruto up to her personal quarters. Just before she could, she saw the only survivor besides Naruto. "Who is that?"

"Not sure. I've never seen him before"

"Oh… well he can come join us. Oh and you have to put this on" she said before pulling out a rough sack the size of a human head.

"Errr… why?" Naruto questioned her request.

"It's a surprise~" she sang out

"Why does it smell of bloo- ?"

"It's fine~!" she sang before slamming the bag around his head and wrapped a thin piece of orange rope around his neck and tied it into a neat bowtie almost choking Naruto as he and the other stranger were dragged off to Karasu's private personal quarters in the central watchtower.

* * *

As Naruto was pushed around and the only thing he could see were shadowy apparitions through the bag. He was shoved into a comfortable seat and pushed towards the table. "Okay is everything set? Do we have everything? Good... Oh it's perfect Naruto you are so going to love thi- … well go on take the bloody bag off his head!" she shouted to the guards who proceeded to untie the knotted rope and removed the bag off of his head as Naruto squinted as the light assaulted his eyes allowing him to adjust to his surroundings.

"Again, I am so sorry for what happened to you earlier. So to make it up to you, I prepared this." She presented a whole table filled with food. A feast of all the delicious savoury food he could ever wish for, even ramen was on the table, which he inwardly thanked the gods for as it looked even more delicious then his home made variant and looked just as tasty as Ichirakus. Naruto reached over to grab the ramen and dove straight into it and immediately he moaned in delight. Karasu smiled joyously at the display of his foodgasm. "I'm glad you like it. I made that dish myself" she said only to have Naruto cough in surprise.

She was really trying to wriggle her way into his heart and this attempt had made him rather vulnerable. Karasu giggled at the face he was making. "Well I suppose introductions are in order. You already know who I am Lieutenant colonel Karasu and I am the governess of this mining town of mount Khan in the north eastern region of the Empire. On your left is the captain of the guards Nicolas." She points to a man in his late thirties who nodded towards Naruto. His face was mostly blank, but he gave Naruto a cold eye of scrutiny. He was wearing his captain's winter coat that consisted of a dark grey military coat with a white fur trimmed collar. His features were a military buzz cut and scars were littered across his head and face which was covered with five o'clock shadow and dark brown eyes. "And on to your right… who is this?" she narrowed her eyes at this man who was mostly silent and had a blank look on his face. But then he gave the fakest smile he had ever seen that displayed barely any emotion.

"My name is Kei Ma'am" he said almost as if he was trying to be not deterred by the aura, but it wasn't working so much as his brow was moist with sweat.

Naruto had never seen him before, but he was getting a bad vibe from him. Karasu ignored him for the time being and decided to talk about something else. "Now, Naruto-Kun. I suppose you would be wondering why we were after those people?"

Naruto vaguely shook his head "Only that I know that there is a major conflict between the Empire and these revolutionaries. What has happened to make them revolt?"

"To tell you the truth, its politicians and a major power grab. Bleh! Disgusting things they are. Nothing but fat, greedy and selfish people and always pointing their fingers for us soldiers of where to go fight."

"Careful Karasu…" Captain Nicolas warned her, but she waved the warning off.

"Yes I know, they can't do much to me anyway. I have more power than them at the moment and I hold one of the things that is lining their pockets in my hands. If they decided to cross me then I could always take it away from them." her eyes gleamed.

"They could always send someone to take you out." Nicolas countered

"Who?" She asked curiously.

"General Esdeath for one."

"Heh! She snorted humourlessly. "She and I go way back during our time in the military academy. She doesn't care about the opinions of those who she considers far weaker than her. She only listens to the prime minister and the emperor who in turn is being controlled by Prime Minister Honest, which is a shame because he is also a very weak willed boy who is in possession of one of the strongest teigus."

"Wouldn't that teigu that Honest has technically make him the strongest?"

"Who? Honest? Don't make me laugh! It's true he could technically defeat Esdeath with that particular teigu, but come on Esdeath would annihilate him before he gets the chance to, even without her teigu." She scoffed.

Naruto was getting more curious about these teigus and decided to ask. "What are these teigus?" he asked her.

Karasu raised a questioning brow. "You never took an interest in the Empire's common knowledge since you arrived here Naru-kun, what brought this on?"

"Just curiosity, I know a vague amount about these weapons, but I don't know how to identify one."

"Well, I'll tell you. Teigus were in fact created many years ago by the Empire's first emperor. The first was a very proud man and very fond of his empire, but he knew he couldn't rule it forever as he would eventually kick the bucket soon enough. He feared that as soon as he was gone, that his empire would soon fall by either one of his incompetent descendants or anyone that dared to usurp the throne. So he ordered for the best minds in the Empire to gather certain materials from the most renowned danger beasts and resources that were incredibly rare to find or acquire. As soon as they were gathered, they were to construct numerous weapons. 48 of them to be exact. Unfortunately, half of them were lost due to a civil war five centuries ago, several of them were destroyed. Even some of the Teigus are in the hands of the revolutionary army, but we hold the most dangerous ones. Teigus can look like anything, they could be sentient biological creatures or even people, normal looking melee weapons or guns or even equipment like armour. There are even some cases that teigus can look like simple jewellery. If you obtain one of these items and if it accepts you as its wielder then you could potentially hold a tremendous power as every teigu holds a special ability or several like my whip teigu Belmont" Karasu explained to Naruto and she patted her beloved whip.

Naruto's eyes widened at this possibility 'could it be…?' he thought about the amulet he found earlier that was now hidden underneath his scarf.

"What kind of power do they have?" the pale brown haired man asked all of a sudden. *Thwak!* His response was a rifle butt to the head courtesy of a guard standing by his chair who hit him due to Karasu giving out a nod to the guard that mentally translated to "Hit him".

"I never said you could speak. I don't even know who you are and apparently you're not registered here. I'm not like most ignorant nobles to ignore simple slaves, as some of them may have something to hide." She said dangerously to this Kei who remained quiet but gave a cold silent stare as he was inwardly wincing at the swelling bruise on the back of his head.

Naruto didn't really need to know about the capabilities of a teigu as he had heard some of the stories through rumours. All he needed to know was how to identify one so he could confirm his suspicions of the amulet, but for this stranger to suddenly ask that question with no fear has certainly raised his suspicions. This man did not look like he was from around here and his accent, despite his monotonous tone of voice, was still recognizable. For some reason Naruto's breathing hitched as he was coming towards a revelation of a probability he did not want to face ever again.

Karasu noticed this and frowned, this stranger was making him uncomfortable. "Naru-kun? Is something the matter?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nothing" he murmured.

"I don't think it is nothing Naru-kun. You feel threatened by this man for some reason." she explained his discomfort and she felt rather protective when he was agitated.

Naruto flinched as she saw right through him.

"No… I believe it's where he came from and who sent him is what made you so afraid." She said as she stood up and walked calmly around the table until she was behind Kei who was sweating nervously but only a slight drop was visible as he could feel the torrent of rising killing intent.

"And I can take a guess as to who. They. Might. be…" she said slowly, but dangerously as she unsheathed a small knife from her sleeve and with lightning like reflexes plunged it into his back right into the bone of his shoulder. The young man screamed in agony as she twisted the blade in his shoulder and pressed him hard down on the table, scattering many dishes apart from the impact. Karasu reached into a hidden inside pocket and took out a recognizable headband and a blank Anbu face mask.

"Konoha!" she growled.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and his heart was hammering inside his chest. 'No! No! No! What the fuck are they doing here!?'

"You bloody shinobi ruin everything, like the dinner that I have worked so hard to prepare for my Naru-kun. You're no better than the Revolutionary Army that likewise ruin everyone's day. Didn't you know that it is rude to write messages at the dinner table?" She said indicating a rolled up scroll still held tightly in his hand.

"Now let's see what you've wrote down." She said as she tried to get the scroll off of a very stubborn shinobi spy. "Let. Go. Of. The. Scroll!" she said as she hit his hand after each word was said. The spy finally released the scroll and Karasu picked the scroll up and read the message that was written out to relay it onto someone else via whatever means that shinobi use, an animal perhaps?

"Now let's see here? I'm with Naruto Uzumaki… hmm? Strange it was written over three characters that says Dem- and then was scribbled out. Well whatever that means it doesn't matter, but this one will make you laugh." She read the scroll out loud for everyone to hear. She turned the mini messaging scroll around to display what it had said, and surprisingly it was something you would not expect from a trained shinobi or an Anbu of Konoha, especially if they came from Root.

"Help!" she snorted out clearly amused. "What kind of shinobi are you to write for help? That's not how you do it, you cry for help. So come on, Up you go. You are going to cry for help. If you are going to do something, you've got to do it right." She said while lifting the spy up with the knife still stabbed into his back and dragged him over to the balcony that lead outside to a breath-taking view of the mountains. "Now, here we go. Cry for help." She indicated him to do so as she held out her hand.

The spy remained silent. The poor lad that looked about nearly Naruto's age ora few years older looked as if he was going to break any second now from the pressure. Did the shinobi standards really drop that low since he was gone? Surely the Sandaime or whoever was the new Hokage was serious on selecting him for this mission?

The spy remained silent, but only served to aggravate Karasu as she wriggled the knife around in his wound roughly "Cry for help!" she insisted of him.

"H-help…" he whimpered out.

"No no no that's pathetic. Come on you can do better than that. Cry for help!"

"Help!" he said out louder.

"Say it like you mean it, like your life is in danger!"

"HELP!"

"Help! For your dying friend!" she screamed at him

"HEEELLP!" "HEEELLP!" they both yelled out simultaneously before Karasu shut him up by placing her index finger on his lips, as the shouts echoed across the mountain.

"Shh, shh, shh. Now we listen… nothing. I'm afraid Konoha and your friends aren't coming for you. You were nothing but a throwaway tool for their schemes." Said indifferently to him as it had left a shell shocked root-nin standing silently over the balcony. The shinobi… or if you could call him that was now staring out into the mountains crying tears of despair at the thought that he was abandoned by his own village. He had chosen the wrong job or his superiors chose the wrong man for the job.

'Danzo-Sama… why?' he thought about the head of Root. He didn't respond to anything, even as he was being dragged away by the guards. "Take him and find out what he knows." Karasu pointed to him before removing the knife from his back. Once she removed the knife the man winced in pain as he tried to clutch his wound. The guards then rounded on him and slammed a fist into his abdomen and dragged him along by his shoulders as he was forced down onto the floor.

"Oh how terrific isn't it. Your old home comes to visit and already makes a mess out of things. Now, please, stay here. Enjoy the ramen. Don't move. I'll be right back." As she pointed out the door and left the room in a mild hurry along with Nicolas. Outside he could briefly hear her say. "Double... No. Triple the guards. We are on lockdown. We've got rats to flush out."

And now Naruto was left on his own with his thoughts that were plaguing his mind. 'Konoha…Here?' was his primary thought. Could he really go back? 'No... nothing has changed. It never will.' He scowled as he recalled that writing error he made where he scribbled out a syllable for demon. Of course nothing has changed about their views, "I wouldn't trust anyone." Were the words he remembered Karasu saying. Who can he trust? Karasu seems to be the only one who he can rely on, but she is persistent that way. But why was Konoha so adamant on retrieving him. What were their motives?

* * *

Kei, the Konoha spy, was not having a good day. He was once one of the legendary spies of the legendary sannin Jiraiya. Now he was no more but a disgraced spy who was said to have leaked valuable and vital information outside of Konoha on orders of the civilian council as he was on their contract and payroll. He along with a company of 125 Anbu Root that were sent to infiltrate the Empire, locate the demon brat and then extract him out and back to Konoha. After following many leads, he finally managed to track him down to this mine. He infiltrated the mine in order to get close to him, but he was unprepared for the brutality of the mines and the guards, so he had difficulty in approaching him.

Now the man was staring at the governess of the mine and she was smirking savagely like that snake whore in T&I when she is presented with a fresh batch of new victims to play with. The spy was bleeding from his face and his bare chest as he was repeatedly whipped. Kei had never felt so much pain in his career or his life during the Third Shinobi War.

"Now, are you going to talk?" she asked nicely of him.

"Fff-fuck…you." He wheezed out.

"Oh come now. We've got all day. Just spit the bloody name out." She insisted by pressing a finger onto an open wound that made him grit his teeth together in agony.

"I can't say his name." he said worried about what would happen to him if he revealed any information about his master and the council.

"Oh he/she can threaten all he/she wants as I will do much worse than what this guy is promising."

The spy gulped. "It's not that… I can't tell you anything about him as he placed a loyalty seal on my tongue here." He said while showing off his tongue to a disgusted Karasu. Now Kei all of a sudden had a brief confidence boost.

"Heh! With this on me, all your efforts in getting anything out of me will be useless as the seal will kill me before I spit out a name or anything about them." he said that unconvincingly as he hoped that it would deter them from asking more questions and stop him from spilling the beans and then killing him in the process as the seal activates.

"Gross… oh well, no matter there are other ways to gain access to information in that head of yours. Without you speaking it of course." She smiled cruelly. Now Kei didn't feel as confident as before. 'What is she talking about? Do they have something similar to the Yamanaka clan?' he hoped not as the people who hired him were so confident that they were safe with the seal that they did not take into account that there are other ways to access said information.

"Send him in!" she ordered the guards to the door to fetch in the man for the job. 10 seconds later a grey haired blind man with bandages wrapped around his eyes walked in with a guiding cane scratching along the floor and a stone cold stoic face. The man wore a blood stained hospital gown and his hands were wrapped in white bandages.

"Mr Townsend here just got out of surgery 2 weeks ago, as the requirements for the surgery to implant his teigu were the loss of his eyesight and then implant them in a specific area." The old man began to unravel the bandages and held both of his palms out in front of his face. Kei saw that there were two bulges in his palms moving about and then suddenly a slit in his palms opened and out popped an eye focusing on him (like the pale man from Pan's Labyrinth.).

"Wha-What is this?!" Kei stammered

"That dear spy is an artificial teigu. The eyes were preserved once it was scooped out of a mystical man turned mad. This man became corrupted by a demonic danger beast that possessed him. Once he was slain, his eyes were salvaged as they were reported that they could see through anything, like memories and your future actions. We call it the Devil's Eyes." She giggled at his facial expression of terror.

"Mr Townsend. Will you do the honours?" she motioned him to the fearful man who was shaking in his own chair. The blind man said nothing but held out his palm directly in front of the spy's fore head and Kei shuddered and then jolted as he felt a forceful entry into his mind like it was being violated. Then the blind man held out his second palm outwards and a window was being formed as his memories were being displayed through it.

"Open your mind!" he ordered to the spy in his harsh, gravelly voice

* * *

 **(Flashback: the mirror's POV)**

The scene played the location in some sort of dark location where some powerful leaders were sitting around a dark and shady room where only the light would shine upon these influential leaders. The memories displayed the Konoha council chambers a few years back. Kei was hiding in the shadows behind the civilian council as he was recently hired by them. As the council was waiting for their leader, the doors to the chambers were blasted through by two Anbu's that skidded on the floor with a few wooden splinters tearing through their skin and cloaks. The two Anbu agents were thrown into the council chambers by a very furious Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage.

"On whose authority was it did they think they had the right to order my Anbu agents around?!" he roared.

The shinobi council and the clan heads shuddered at the tone of his voice. They have not seen him act like this since the Third Shinobi War and the Kyuubi attack. The Kami no shinobi was enraged by someone who apparently wronged him. The civilian and the elders, excluding Danzo who was raising a curious eyebrow were shaking in their seats.

"What is this about Hiruzen?" Danzo asked of him only to get a cold look in return. "That's Hokage- Sama to you Danzo!" he said almost like he was suspecting him of something which Danzo found was quite odd, he hadn't done anything as of recent to raise suspicion like this.

"As to answer your question. Somebody or some people from this very room had the gall to order some of MY shinobi to commit a very unforgivable act." Hiruzen explained seethingly as he had a feeling of who this or these people were.

"What happened Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked genuinely curious on why the Hokage was in such a furious state.

The Hokage gritted his teeth "Two days ago an envoy from this Empire to the far west across the ocean came here seeking a trade deal. I thought it would be a simple resource trade that we could benefit from, but what they didn't tell me was what they wanted in return… They wanted slaves."

Tsume got up from her seat and slammed her hands down on the desk in front of her cracking it "Are you fucking kidding me! Please tell me you rejected their sick proposal." She objected to it in disgust.

"If I learnt of their proposal earlier then I would've outright refused them and sent them out of Fire Country quicker than the Yellow Flash, but unfortunately some people had learnt of this proposal and jumped immediately at the opportunity." The Hokage and the shinobi council/clan heads had a strong feeling of who it was and eyes were glaring at the civilian and the elder council who were visibly sweating in their seats.

"These people have offered Naruto Uzumaki to be sold off as a slave for profit, and now this empire has made off with him and only him." The Hokage gritted his teeth and the shinobi council froze in shock, as well as Danzo who noticeably had clutched onto his cane really hard that cracks were staring to form. He was even more furious when Hiruzen was looking his way as if he was accusing him. "Don't you look at me like I am to blame for this! You know that I wanted the boy to be trained as he is our jinchuriki, I had no knowledge of this!" he objected to his accusing glare and it had lessened.

"While you have done some very questionable stunts in the past, I actually believe you this time. Yes, I know you always wanted Naruto to be your good little puppet Danzo, but there is no point in selling him off to another country where you won't be getting anything out of the benefits. However…" he looked over to the other two elder councillors and the civilian council and they were visibly fidgeting and sweating nervously at his cold, harsh gaze as the 'kami no shinobi's' aura was shrouding the whole room. The ki washed over every single one, until one person in charge of the civilian taxes caved in and confessed.

"W-w-we sold him." He blurted out due to his own fear getting the better of him. The elders and the other councillors froze in their seats and snapped their heads in shock towards him. Their glares were telling him to shut up right now before he got them all killed, but Hiruzen and the other shinobi had clearly heard him.

"Care to explain councillor Musabo." He called out to the fat pig of a council man

"T-there were two envoys of the Empire had come to us just after the first one had left your office. The second one made a deal with us…"

"Who is us?" he questioned him and the fat man tried not to say but his eyes were pointing everywhere even at the councillors, but Hiruzen could see that his eyes were pointing out possible suspects.

"Nevermind… what did he propose to you?"

"He said that we can benefit from a greater trade deal that would benefit Konoha as a whole if we were to give up an orphan or somebody that wouldn't be missed."

"And you chose Naruto to be sold as a slave?"

"Y-yes, after all that demon has nobody and no one will miss the likes of him..." he smiled reassuringly "... that it was all for the best."

Hiruzens eyes were shadowed and for a brief moment later "Anbu… arrest this man."

"N-nani! Why? On what charges!?"

"We do not condone slavery Musabo! What you, as well as anyone else that was involved have done is unforgivable. You have sold out someone I consider to be very precious to me and you are wrong to think that he won't be missed. Naruto has several people that are precious to him and he is to them. No Musabo, what you and anyone else that was involved have done was make us look like we support slavery and that we would sell out our own people all for the sake of profit!" he shouted at him while slamming his fist down on the desk in front of him.

"You will be taken to T&I where Ibiki and Anko will get any information out of you on who else was involved and likewise they will be sent there too."

"And what of Naruto-kun Hokage-Sama! We can't just abandon him!" Tsume stood up and voiced out her concerns for the pup.

"I know Tsume, but I don't know where he is. He could already be crossing the ocean by now and we would never catch up by then. So I will have Jiraiya send out his spies into this Empire and find out where Naruto is being taken to."

And then the memory blurred as it began to change and form out a new scene from a memory.

"Hmm! It seems as if half of their council are in support of Naru-kun and the other half is against him. Something about a Jinchuriki?… Whatever that is about? And the civilians clearly hate him for some reason. Why though? What did he do wrong?" Karasu wondered on the mystery behind Naruto.

The next scenery changed into him being thrown into a wall and smashing straight through it. He landed roughly onto the ground with many bricks laying on top of him and next to him. As he tried to get himself up he was grabbed right by his neck by one furious toad sage.

"You bastard! Do you realize what you have done!?" Jiraiya roared into his face. "You just sold valuable information written down by my own trusted and best spy that would've led us right to Naruto. Why!?"

"T-that demon must never come back to…Konoha…Why won't you understand!? He is a danger to us all!" Kei tried to argue back.

"That demon as you so put it is my godson. You had no right to prevent me from saving him. Now tell me who you sold the information to." he tried to threaten but a smoke bomb was thrown into the room and blanketed the whole room in smoke. While Jiraya was occupied by the sudden development, he was snatched out of the Sannin's hands by Root Anbu.

Then the memory changed again.

"See this is why shinobi cannot be trusted, Especially weak minded individuals like this one. Always backstabbing one another all for some petty revenge."

Then the scene changed again to reveal him standing in front of the commander and chief of Root. "Your mission is to locate and capture Naruto Uzumaki. By our information he should be still located inside of that mine."

"How should I approach him?"

"Do whatever you wish, befriend him, knock him out or incapacitate him, just don't kill him." Danzo stated and Kei was gritting his teeth together to prevent himself from outright objecting for this demon to return to Konoha, but Danzo would make him into a weapon and he would never bother him or the people of Konoha again… it didn't seem so bad, right?

And then the scene changed again to see him standing in front of the revolutionary spies and the leader of the spies, Kaname.

"Remember, The plan for attack starts at midnight." Kaname informed Kei

"Just remember our deal. You bring us Naruto Uzumaki and we will help you gain your freedom."

"Sure thing! And err… What about you guys?"

"We have our men stationed around the mine and we have this place surrounded and inside the mines and every important structure."

"Kei explained every part of the plan to Kaname and he in return explained their parts of the plan in case things didn't go their way. "Remember Kei, if this does not go to plan then consider Naruto dead. I'm sure the miners will be glad to finish him off." Kaname smirked to himself.

"We won't, and if you do go against our deal then will consider you and the rest of this mine to be wiped out" he threatened.

"That's if you don't go against us first."

And then the memories stopped their by a furious Karasu.

* * *

 **(Cut back to the present)**

Karasu flipped table over in a fit of rage "Those cowards dare to threaten my Naruto-kun! Nicolas! Get every guard and my forces to prepare for battle! This is WAR!"

"And what about Naruto, Karasu?"

"Ah! Naruto!" she froze in the spot as she remembered that she had left him alone and that he could be in danger as the miners were going to be a threat to him. she quickly ran out of the interrogation room and back to the dining room. As soon as she arrived back at the dining room, she found the room to be empty and all of the ramen and a majority of the food and drink were gone. She only found a note by the side of the table where Naruto had been sitting at earlier.

It read "Thank you for the food Karasu. Unfortunately, I have a late night/early morning shift to attend to and I cannot wait much longer so I had to leave. Sorry about leaving so soon, but I really appreciate meal you had prepared for me and I hope we can do something like this soon. – Naruto X"

While Karasu would've blushed like a giddy schoolgirl, her stomach dropped in fear as Naruto had headed back into the mines where it was soon going to be a warzone.

"Naruto!" she ran straight for the armoury to get herself prepared to head into the mines, but she was already too late.

* * *

 **(Elevator to floor 13)**

Naruto was already kitted up and his gas mask was already fitted on and was already on the elevator heading back down to floor 13. He felt much better after having a nice warm and delicious ramen down him as well as other important nutritious meals that were already prepared for him.

He had to leave as he needed time to himself to think about what was happening. Konoha was back on his mind yet again as apparently they have sent someone to capture him. He suspected that this wasn't a rescue mission set up by Hiruzen. If it was then he would've sent someone more trustworthy like the Anbu Cat or Dog and few others like some of the jonin.

However, what was really on his mind was the amulet hidden underneath his scarf. He was getting these strong vibes coming off of it. He was certain that this was a teigu, but he had no idea how powerful it was. It had to be if it was buried under tonnes of mountainous rock.

 ***Screech! Clang!***

Suddenly, the elevator screeched to a halt and Naruto was left stranded in a dirty narrow elevator shaft with a little light that was flickering on and off and the groaning cable that was clanging about and groaning under the strain.

"The fuck?" he frowned as he looked up as the elevator suddenly stopped. He pressed the down button on the panel only to get no response. He then pressed the emergency button only to get no response from that either. "Great, powers out" he sighed in frustration. He was about to curse until he could hear faint echoes far above him at the elevator door back on the twelfth floor. he couldn't figure out what they were saying but he could figure out their intent. "That's no search and rescue party." And he was right.

 ***Boom!*** the winching system for the elevator was blown up by organised explosives of TNT and it destroyed the system in one blow. The elevator had nothing holding it steady as it was now sent hurtling down into the abyss, increasing speed at every second.

Naruto was sent to the floor as he held on and braced himself for the inevitable impact that was soon to come.

 ***BANG!***

The elevator slammed onto to the bottom floor of floor 13. The elevator crumpled up under the strain of the forceful impact. There was worse to come however as bits of scrap metal, the steel cable and parts of the elevator shaft had caved in and started to bury the elevator with Naruto still inside.

Naruto was left inside of the elevator battered, bruised, bleeding, and unconscious. He was trapped under tonnes of rock and scrap metal of the elevator. He was unaware that the miners had started their revolt with aid from the Revolutionary Army and he was blissfully unaware that there was a warzone happening just right above him.

Just as he was drifting in and out of unconsciousness, he was also unaware that the amulets sphere like gem was glowing with increasing power and that he was being brought into the depths of his mind where a certain fox was anticipating his visit.

 **"Naruto…"**

 **(End of chapter 1)**


	2. Chapter 2: the grudge

**Phew! hard work this is...well here as promised, here is the second chapter. took a while,but eventually got there.**

 **My Beta reader is CrossoverNaru so well done to him.**

 **Fair warning to all who are either new to this fic or get easily offended...this fic will contain scenes of moderate - heavy violence, blood and gore, strong language and dark content... what's that you say? no nudity or lemons?... not just yet...fics have often ruined themselves by jumping the gun too early like some fics, so i like to take my time in constructing the scenario first.**

 **And you know what else...no flames yet! is'nt that cool...but seriously, flames and toxic comments will not be tolerated and will be removed the second i see them as there is a feature that allows me to monitor the traffic of guest reviews and i pick the ones that are acceptable, helpful and constructive and get rid of the ones that are just toxic, abusive and hateful. so don't even bother writing up toxic and flame messages and just wipe the memory of reading this fic from your mind if you happen to not like it and just walk away...that's all.**

 **(This chapters theme song is The Grudge by Tool)**

 **The Grudge**

The elevator shaft leading all the way down to floor 13 was now silent after the elevator plummeted straight to hell and was silenced with an earth shattering crash that echoed all the way up to the twelfth floor. Two people were peering down the elevator shaft, one was Kaname himself and the other was some thug looking guy who was an ex bandit leader turned slave who was wearing a white cotton ragged t shirt with leather harnesses over his chest and two belts around his waist and a red bandanna over skinhead shaved bald scarred head. Both of them were wearing their old standard leather gas masks with cracked lenses and an oxygen canister fixed to the side of their respirator.

"Don't take this personally man, but if you want to blame someone? Blame Kei for making me go through the trouble of that stupid deal. You were **SO** not worth the trouble."

The bandit slave lifted up his gas mask and spat down into the elevator shaft before placing it back over his mouth. "Ptoo! Serves that bastard right, fraternising with the enemy."

"Was that really necessary?" Kaname asked him not really getting why they were so hostile with him.

"That punk kid has been warming up to that demon bitch Karasu, she always fawns over him and will harm anyone that wrongs the boy and has been making his life so much more comfortable down in the mines while we are left to rot down here. I bet he had also snitched on us whenever we try and take some supplies for ourselves from the shops and the pantry but she will always find us in the act or track us down after we had done it. It's got to be that brat, I'm sure of it."

"Wow… you must really hate him huh?" he tilted his head before giving off an eye smile to his follower behind the gasmask and shrugged. "Oh well, I guess he deserved It." he laughed and turned on his heel. "Now… since our first attempt didn't go so well due to some fucking ninjas costing me my fellow miners' lives and I barely escaped with my own all for the sake of some demon as they called him for some odd reason, we will go with plan B"

"What about their threat about wiping out everyone in the mine." Another miner asked.

"Nah! Just an empty threat, There is no need to feel afraid of them." He shrugged and spoke in blinded confidence. "Besides with numbers on our side and a whole armoury we have access to, we can break our way out by sheer force." He grinned behind his mask and walked off into the tunnels with makeshift and scavenged weapons at their sides and they had to have their firearms holstered unless they wanted to ignite another firebomb in the gas catacombs.

Down in the abyss of the destroyed elevator shaft and the remains of the elevator now stuck and destroyed and buried at the bottom was an arm belonging to one Naruto Uzumaki that was sticking out of the elevator with the rest of the body buried by crumpled metal and an avalanche of rocks and dust. The arm was laying there lifeless as the impact had severely knocked Naruto unconscious and was severely injured. The impact would've killed any normal person, but Naruto was nowhere near normal as he had faced worse death experiences before and he has still survived.

The rock resting on top of Naruto's shoulder was suddenly hit by a glob of spit that had been spat from the mouth of a very unsavoury person way up on the twelfth floor.

As the glob of saliva and mucus hit the rock, there was a sudden twitch in the fingers.

* * *

 **(Ground floor)**

Fighting had broken out on every floor within the mines. Everywhere you looked, it was just a bloody melee and a brutal gunfight massacre. The rebel miners and the revolutionaries had ambushed nearby patrolling guards and seized their weapons and their keys and then began to storm garrisons and raided their armouries and their stockpiles of decommissioned weapons. the weapons themselves were old and in questionable condition. They had not been used for a long time or were only used when necessary. Some guns and other weaponry they acquired looked like they belonged in a museum as they were not in use anymore by the military. they had automatic weapons, sub machine guns, shotguns,pistols and revolvers and other sorts of rifles, but they looked to have come back from a previous war as their condition looked like they returned with some battering on the framework and the stock, not to mention that the guns looked to be really dusty and rust was appearing in certain places. there was also tape keeping some parts of the weapons together.

So far the raids had gone off smoothly without severe losses on their side. however, strangely enough, there were a lack of guards stationed in the guard houses and the military checkpoints. They were more like fresh grunts more than anything. Not that Kaname noticed or anything, as he was too focused on getting to the top/ground level floor.

The guns in their possession were not anything special as they were meant to be decommissioned and only act as spares more than anything. The lower you go, the lesser guards there are, as well as decreased quality of of their equipment. The elite guards and Karasu's Special Forces are tasked with guarding the important floors and the ground level main floor, the outside courtyard of the mine, the surrounding areas to watch out for any escapees, as well as possible threats. Karasu's special forces were named Cerberus, like the guard dog of hell, and they were mainly tasked in guarding the mines, sometimes hunting down and snuffing out trouble makers and making them disappear and quelling possible uprisings.

Kaname and his loyal followers had successfully snuck their way to the main elevator and rode it to the top floor where their objective was to capture and hold the main floor while Kaname goes to the broadcast room and issues the all-out attack to all miners. it was so far so good as they hadn't encountered any hostile contacts as of yet. Kaname's confidence was soaring. He believed they could actually pull this off without breaking a sweat, but little did he know, was that his plan B was already compromised from the start.

They reached the main floor and the gate to the elevator opened up to… An empty floor? "Huh? Where is everyone?" Kaname scratched his head in confusion.

"It's too quiet Kaname-Sama… I do not like this."

"Relax man, we're all going to be fine. We will all make it out of this, I swear it." He gave out a reassuring smile to the rest and they all felt reassured and smiled at their great leader. upon entering the foyer, they all reached the huge double doors leading out to the courtyard where the central watchtower headquarters, as well as the the broadcasting room, were located.

The large group of thirty miners and a suspicious kaname, who was discreetly shifting his way to the back of the group, was somewhat leading them valiantly towards their objective. They appeared to be doing so well so far. that is until they opened the double doors and started to pile out into the courtyard where a massive blinding and concussive blast from an improvised flashbang had detonated right in front of them sending as much as eight to their knees and backs from the force of the concussive blast. They were all screaming in agony as they covered their eyes and their ears.

Kaname was hiding behind a row of mine carts just as the flashbangs exploded. He had dived straight for cover as a surge of guards and Cerberus Elite special had all flowed out from their hiding places, poring out from every building and the watchtower.

" **Drop your weapons and give yourselves up!"** A booming voice echoed throughout the courtyard from a handheld microphone. As soon as they had looked up they had spotted the guardsmen and Cerberus Special Forces. all of them were aiming their weapons at them. The guardsmen were all wearing winter coats for their uniform with armour plates inside the pockets inside of their coats while they all wore armoured helmets that covered all of their heads and metal plates covering their faces with fur trimmed hoods covering their heads as it was currently snowing. Karasu's elite forces were a mixture of their usual uniform along with heavily armoured units dressed in dark grey heavy plate armour and were carrying large belt fed heavy machine guns beside their waists and carrying large backpacks full of ammunition (Like the Panzer Cops from Jin Roh/ Kerberos)

Kaname and the rest of the miners were shell shocked at the amount of opposition that was out to confront them. Now this explained why everything was so quiet, they had just walked right into a trap.

Suddenly the Tannoy system blared to life. **"Kaname Shunsui!... I know you are there! You really thought you were so clever that you could outmanoeuvre me? Khuhuhuhu! How Naïve! You are just too predictable in your plans. If I could even call that a plan**!" Karasu was on the Tannoy that blasted out her voice throughout the courtyard as she openly mocked Kaname who was quivering in his boots in shock and fear at the amount of soldiers that was over 120 soldiers in the courtyard all aiming their weapons at them.

 **"But all of your plans came crashing down because of this one man…"** she paused and then a window opened up on the second tallest floor of the watchtower and a head flew out and landed with a splat and a crunch on the snow and icy ground. It was Kei's head, their supposed ally in breaking out of the mine.

 **"He calls himself a shinobi…"** Karasu was now seen at the window leaning over the window sill with her fore arms supporting her body on top of the window sill with the microphone in her hand. **"Yet we broke him in less than 12 minutes**. **Now… He has told me some… Interesting things about you that has come to my attention."**

The miners all gulped nervously. " **What have you done to Naruto Uzumaki?"** she growled down the mike as her respirator made her all the more frightening.

They all froze in the spot and Kaname was sweating nervously. 'Ahahaha! maybe it wasn't such a good idea to kill him off.' He was trying to think of a way out of their current situation, but was then brought out of his thoughts when he noticed the bandit leader's fearful face suddenly turn into a malicious smirk. 'Oh no! Nononono,what are you doing you idiot!' he mentally panicked as he knew what he was going to do.

"He! Hehehehahahaha! Wouldn't you like to know!?" he grinned up at Karasu who in return had scowled at the scumbag who all of a sudden was feeling rather confident and proud. "He's plummeted straight to hell where he belongs! And you will soon join him you demon bitch!" he roared out in challenge.

"As long as we have our leader here you stand no chance! he will save us all! He is a part of the revolutionaries and they will kick your Empire's ass back into the stone age!" his challenge towards Karasu and the Soldiers had granted him a confidence and morale boost towards the other miners and they all gave out a loud roar as they felt as if their morale had been boosted, but Kaname was nervously sweating as he could feel the aura changing into a much darker tone and the KI of their enemy's leader had spiked dramatically. Then just after the words had been spoken and the morale has been raised to satisfactory levels... it all came crashing down.

Suddenly… ***KRAKBOOM!*** the bandit leader exploded in a shower of smoking charred gore and blood as something akin to a lightning bolt and a crack of thunder had struck him the middle of his chest. He exploded in a shower of blood and chunks of his charred torso and limbs flew everywhere. Karasu could now be seen with one leg on the window sill and her whip Teigu was drawn out and sparking with electricity that surged around the metallic whip. What happened in that brief instant was that her whip had transformed into a close resemblance of a lightning bolt, striking the ground that the unfortunate victim was standing on. This happens whenever she toggles the intensifier onto x30 which by itself on default mode is quite explosive on the skin once the whip makes contact with it. There are also several other features on the whip that can be toggled like Raiden mode that have their own specialities and perks. with one foot planted on the window sill was a furious Karasu whose face can be seen as her eyes specifically her iris had shrunk in a menacing hatred and her brows were almost stitched together as she glared bloody daggers at these worthless beings in front of her with cold furious hostility.

" **Did he save you then?...No?...thought not… seize them all. I will dish out their punishment myself."** she ordered coldly and the soldiers were all approaching towards the rebels with their weapons still trained on them.

 **(Play DevilDriver: Black soul Choir)**

As the soldiers were slowly approaching the rebels, one of the rebels was losing his nerve and his breathing pace had quickened erratically. His arms were shaking causing his sub machine gun In his arms to move all over the place and his teeth was chattering in fear.

"Haa…ahh…aaaaYAAAGH!" he raised his SMG that had a wooden butt and a wooden grip and a metal barrel with multiple vents to keep the barrel cool and also came with a drum magazine. **"RATATATATATATATA!"** the loud fully automatic gunfire had set off a chain reaction as the rebels had all joined in on the shooting after the miner had fired into the crowd of soldiers first.

The soldiers returned fire, and with better equipment and training, they were far better protected and capable of taking their enemies efficiently and effectively. The Cerberus unit accurately eliminated all hostilities with accurate chest shots and head shots, while the guards had done somewhat similar but had mostly empty their clips in a full auto shootout along with the Heavy Support Troopers with their handled LMGs.

The miners never stood a chance at the sheer fire power and training of Karasu's elite SF and guardsmen. Their bodies flew backwards from the impact of heavy calibre bullets being shot into their bodies and causing their blood to gush out of their wounds. One of the bullets hit a grenade that was attached to one of the still standing rebel's newly scavenged tactical vest. The blast had also detonated the remaining grenades and explosives,sending shrapnel everywhere killing, wounding and maiming nearby comrades. One of the rebels that was still inside the main foyer had brought out a rocket launcher that looked more like a tube with a button on the top and with an arrow at the tip with fins on them. His aim was pointed directly at Karasu who was still looking down at them however, he was suddenly shot down by multiple rifle rounds by snipers and accurate machine gun fire that had set their sights that were now focused on him. He dropped the rocket launcher which it had landed roughly on the ground and hit a mine cart causing it to misfire and shoot out the rocket. however, it never even came close to hitting its intending target. instead, it hit the roof of the entrance to the mine, causing it to collapse on more miners.

Kaname had seen what the outcome of this fight was going to be even before that ex bandit was killed and stupidly ran his mouth. His blind followers, who were running all over the place and being gunned down to their deaths and were in total disarray. The fully automatic machine gun spray from the SMGs, the assault rifles and the LMGs were tearing his men apart. He could practically feel the stare from the Governess looking down from her tower, witnessing their deaths with a persona of indifference, like they never mattered and like she does not consider them a threat. in fact, it felt like she was a little bit… disappointed.

Kaname's mind had shut down from the amount of shock he was in. He could not rally his men to effectively counterattack if the entire group of slaves were going to keep on running around like headless chickens and then eventually get themselves shot to pieces.

Kaname was stuck as his objective was right there, but he could not reach the broadcasting room as the way was blocked. He needed to give out the message through the Tannoy system for the miners to start their revolt. However, before he could come up with a strategy to carry out his plan, someone had already beaten him to it.

" **People, Miners and Slaves… you have worked so hard in these mines. Thousands of you who have supplied our empire with rich resources to fuel our economy and our army for more than a hundred years. I thank you for your hard work and for your dedication of your your services to me. However… the 1000 miners who have loyally worked in these mines have turned against me and my mine. What is it that you seek? Is it freedom? Who told you the promises and hope for this…freedom? But in the end, you have no idea what true freedom really is. The 1000 miners in this mine have turned their backs on this mine and have rallied to the sweet words and languished under the name and the banner of this man… Kaname Shunsui… who to all of you is believed to be your SHINING example of Justice, hope and your key to freedom!… Sadly for all of you, you have been given a false idol and a false hero. He is anything but those positive things you thought him to be… let me tell you who he really is in the exact words of my most trusted intelligence officers. Kaname Shunsui is a grade A coward and a liar. He is no leader but a fraud and he will use anything and anyone to push the blame towards, even his own comrades."** She explained with a shake of her head in disgust as she the report in her hands to everyone in the mines whilst holding onto the mic that was broadcasting throughout every floor on the mine on the tannoy systems.

 **"It gets worse...You thought that I and this empire were evil? Well I will admit that I am no saint, but that does not mean that I have morals in some departments. Call me a heartless monster all you want, but explain to me what right does this man have in murdering the innocent children of political figures who have such little impact in the way the empire is currently run, and are oblivious to all of this world's darkness and suffering. What have they done to deserve such cruelty? What's worse about him is that the man has carnal desires for young girls. Especially the innocent little ones who don't understand what is going on. And the Revolutionary army dare call us the criminals and the monsters! They are all hypocrites! They are all guilty of hiring monsters to do their dirty work! He spoke of the innocents to you, yes? But in war there are no innocent sides. He was telling you all these sweet words to butter you up and be ripe for the picking to involve you in a war that has ravaged our home and many innocents lives. This mine is not a slaving camp for the innocents, but for the empire's criminals need I remind you scumbags. I have no use for the weak and the innocent who can easily break under these conditions, whereas you lot are expendable. Who would care if all of the bad people were to simply be exterminated… Not. One. Person... will miss the likes of you, and that is what is going to happen today. It is time for some new fucking management."** Karasu dropped the Mic on the floor that let off a loud screech of feedback from the mic as the broadcast was cut off leaving the majority of the mining population to stand stock still and were stunned as they were in disbelief and shock that their leader was a fraud and a coward and he was not a good guy like he had told them, not even close.

Kaname was gnashing his teeth together in rage. He had been massively played like a fool. He could feel and hear her mocking him from her tower as her eyes were lit up in glee and he could feel as if he could hear her laughing fit behind her gas mask/respirator and that gleeful mocking laughter was echoing inside his mind.

" **Hehehe! HAHAHAHA!"** he could hear it over and over again. "Shut up…SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE MOCK ME YOU WHORE!" he screamed up to the tower, his voice loud enough to beheard over the sound of gunfire, Karasu ignored his childish tantrum as she continued to observe the one-sided slaughter.

"I'll show you! I'll rally all of the miners in these mines, we out man your army! You've no chance against our iron will!" he roared in defiance and outrage.

Again Karasu paid no mind to his delusional beliefs and continued watching in amusement at the pathetic attempt of a fight she was witnessing. Just before the guards and the elite forces could round up on Kaname's position to wipe out the group of rebels. There were sudden explosions coming from several areas such as the barracks, walls, offices and the cafeteria.

Several white masked and black and grey robed figures burst out from their hiding spots and assaulted the guards and the Special Forces with elemental Jutsus and paper bombs attached to Kunia. They suddenly burst out from the shadows and the fiery smoke and commenced their own assault, which had caused several deaths and injuries on all sides.

"There you are!" Karasu hissed as her eyes shadowed as she dipped her head down and spotted several ROOT ANBU engaging her men with various forms of martial arts, or Taijutsu as they call it, and these fancy powers they is exclusive to the people in the east across the ocean. They were skilled indeed, but they held barely enough experience to hold a candle to her own forces who are always facing action nearly every day. One of these shinobis had jumped up on the side of the tower and began to run up the side with his Tanto blade out, preparing to cut the head off of the leader. however, he was in for a nasty surprise when by the time he reached the window sill she was on, She dipped her head back to easily dodge the blade and with lighting fast reflexes, she whipped out her left hand to grab onto his mask covered face as her fingers latched onto his face and mask with the the grip power equivalent to that of a hydraulic press that dug in deep into his ANBU ROOT mask that cracked holes inside of his mask and pressing deep into his skin.

"Gaaagh!" the ROOT ANBU screamed out as he could feel his cheekbones and jaw being crushed.

"Is that the best you can do? Aren't you people supposed to be a crack military shadow unit? All I see is disappointment. You people think that you can discard your emotions so you could be stronger? Wrong… Emotions are always a part of human nature. Emotions drive our ambitions to make us strive further in our goals. they are what makes us stronger. You people have nothing to fight for, but a power hungry fool that will throw away the lives of those who are loyal to him and end those lives that are against him. All for the sake for his own emotions that fuel his desires for conquest. He may preach about emotions will make you weak, but he is only deluding and making a hypocrite of himself. Danzo is a very emotional man, after all"

"How the…Hell would… you know something…like that?" the ROOT ANBU grunted out while she increased the tightness in her grip.

"Your friend Kei has enlightened me about your village. what a disgusting place that you live in... although you are not far off on the rotten scale with the Empire's… but keep trying, you'll get there." she giggled.

The Anbu then whipped out a Kunai from his sleeve and attempted to stab her arm, only for the blade to be slapped out of his hand with her other hand. Then she proceeded to slam him into the window sill and lifted his head up and smashed the mask into his face with her knee and then he fell out of the window, his body now lifeless.

"So predictable." She shook her head in disappointment. She then witnessed the battle ascending into chaos as the ROOT Anbu were slaughtering the miners, but in return were being shot to hell by her soldiers who were also taking casualties by the shinobis and some lucky miners. The shinobi were fast and somewhat agile for some, but they were highly vulnerable in the open by incoming gunfire. thus, the live rounds would simply annihilate anyone who came into contact with it.

She then noticed that the weapons her soldiers were using were not at all that accurate, nor were they reliable. "I swear to Kami, I will have that weapons supplier and manufacturer executed for supplying us with these pieces of shit weaponry. Why can't we get something that matches the statement of revolutionary,effective and efficient except outdated pieces of junk? Haah! General Budo and Esdeath-Chan always gets the best toys." she sighed and whined in frustration.

She sighed even more when she spotted three more Anbu charging up the tower. She then withdrew her Whip Teigu Belmont again and flicked on the switch to activate arcs of electricity that were now forming on the metallic whip and turned up the dials on the pain intensifiers on her whip. The lightning coated whip was surging in hundreds of thousands if not millions of voltages of highly condensed electricity. She then walked over to the window sill and dropped down below to meet face to face with her trench coat fluttered in the air showing her form fitting leather trousers as well as her bright platinum blonde hair.

All three of the shinobi went through the hand signs to prepare for a katon Jutsu. Karasu saw what they were doing and recognised the moves from Kei's memories and wasted no time to retaliate. she then proceed to cut off their preparation time and threw her arm down in a cutting motion and the whip sliced through the air, bisectingthe first ROOT ANBU with her highly condensed whip shrouded in lightning that had effortlessly cut through the shinobi. She then focused the lightning to the tip of the whip and aimed for the centre of the next shinobi's head. like lightning, the whip hit it's mark and penetrated straight through and out the side of the shinobis head.

The third was distracted from the sheer brutality that his comrades had been dealt with and hesitated in his hand signs. big mistake, as He then soon found the bottom of Karasu's heavy steel toe capped boots meeting his face and then travelling all the way down to the bottom and slamming into the ground with his head splattering all over on the ground with her feet still connected to the remains his face and mask.

Hopping off the shinobi's face, she wiped the blood off on the floor. Karasu then undid her trench coat and dropped it on the ground revealing her Black flak jacket vest with multiple pockets and inside pockets for armour plates stored inside them. The flak jacket vest was done up in a V, showing off her voluptuous cleavage proudly behind the black tank top that was underneath the flak jacket. It was also collarless and sleeveless which showed off her muscular, toned and defined arms and shoulders that displayed power and agility in her feminine body. She clicked her neck and her shoulders as more Shinobi started to surround her. She then withdrew her teigu and instead drew out a 14 inch combat knife in a reverse position in her left hand and a semi-automatic pistol in her right from her hip holsters.

"I'm feeling generous today… I need to let off a lot of steam for what you bastards have done to my Naruto-Kun."

"That demon must be retrieved for our master. He is our weapon."

"There is that word again. What does it mean? Why do you call him a demon anyway?"

"That is none of your business. It is a strictly confidential S class law set up by the Sandaime Hokage himself. Breaching that law will result in death."

"Hmm perhaps I should've probed Kei's mind more… but maybe you can enlighten me more in telling me about Naruto's situation over at Konoha?"

"That will never happen."

"We shall see." She narrowed her eyes maliciously as she grinned behind her respirator.

Several Root began their charge as they drew out their Tanto blades and Kunais and went on the offensive only to meet a cold steel blade with a serrated spine on the top of the knife. She blocked one the ANBU's Tanto strikes and retaliated by shooting that particular Anbu in the face which offered no protection despite it being made of porcelain and the round penetrated straight out of the back of his head.

The next Shinobi was grabbed by the arm to prevent a Tanto slicing into her and then she countered by kicking viciously at his leg at the knee, snapping the leg in half which caused the Root ANBU to scream in agony and it ended abruptly with a Knife sinking into his neck.

The next Shinobi was forming up the Jutsu for a C class Suiton: Mizurappa no Jutsu. The wave that shout out of the ANBU's mouth was as big as a two story house and it enveloped Karasu whole. The Root Anbu would've smirked victoriously if he knew how emotions works. Unfortunately, Karasu burst out of the water only feeling wet but unharmed by the brute force of the wave. she plunged her knife straight into the top of the shinobi's head half way up the blade.

She grabbed another ANBU by the wrist and twisted his arm, breaking it and putting him in a choke hold and fired off three bullets into his back that shot through his stomach and dropped her most recent victim and the ROOT were now weary of her and kept their distance as they have never faced a weapon such as the gun before.

Karasu smirked behind her respirator that only covered the lower half of her face. "You look like as if you have never seen one of these before, have you? How tragically primitive your people in the Far East are. You rely too much on your fancy Jutsus and chakra whereas you neglected in further developing your tools for warfare. We are at the point where we have succeeded you in military power decades even centuries ago. You shinobi are impressive, but so what? You don't necessarily need Chakra to make your body stronger. There are plenty of other ways to make yourself stronger." She taunted mockingly at them to which it made them twitch even though they did not know why.

One ANBU dashed in from behind and threw a volley of kunai only for her to dodge by jumping in the air and manoeuvring herself into a somersault and then lineed up the shot with her pistol and shot the perpetrator right between the eyes.

When she landed on one leg, she then used her gravity to spin around on the leg as a pivot and used the other leg to lash out into a high roundhouse kick across another ROOT ANBU's face with enough force that sounds like a fast moving object breaking the sound barrier and the impact against the skull echoed with a massive crack. **(Xray vison: ANBU ROOT mask shatters into pieces along with the majority of the face.)** Using the movement of her kick, she once again jumped up in the air to perform a flying scissor kick across another ROOT's jaw completely, completly dislocating it. Then she landed in front of an ANBU, who's weapon was deflected mid-swing by her knife and then she grabbed onto his head and launched herself up, kneeing him in the face.

More and more ROOT ANBU was falling with each passing second. The ground in front of Karasu was littered with Bodies that have most likely been knocked into comas or had possibly died due to severe head trauma or internal organ damage.

"You guys…are really disappointing. Here I thought you were some elite shadow organisation special ops group and you've nearly had my hopes up for someone strong to make me feel alive. Sadly… you die way too fast like the rest… weak, all of you. I've had enough now, I think we should wrap things up." She sighed in disappointment and withdrawn her weapons and then once again drawn out her whip Teigu and began to charge up her Whip. Another surprise came in store for the ROOT was that she reached for the whip handle and pulled on the bottom of the whip's pommel and twisted it to pull out another handle and then another whip had formed out of the handle, arcing with blue electricity/lightning bolts and sharp thorns decorating both whips. She cranked up the voltage of both weapons and the pain intensifiers up to "death wish" mode. The whips now hummed with power and electricity that made the ROOT very weary of such a weapon and worried over the power of the weapon as she began to whip the floor in front of her, and leaving deep cuts and burn marks into the ground. She then began to crisscross both of the whips onto the ground as to put more fear into their hearts. **(Think of whiplash from iron man 2)**

Her next victim was a shinobi who was going through several hand seals for a powerful Katon Jutsu until Karasu interrupted him by cracking her whips and the tip of her left whip wrapped around the ROOT ANBU's neck,electrocuting him and completely frying him. The voltage was set so high that it burned his skin and body from the inside and out.

"GGGRRRAAAAAGGGH!" he let out a blood curdling scream as he was being electrocuted until his body burned out.

Karasu snorted and yanked on the whip and the ANBU was freeed from the whip by having the whip cut straight into his neck by highly condensed lightning powering through the whip and then cut straight through his neck, decapitating him.

The ANBU and the miners who just witnessed such brutality took a few steps back in weariness and fear as Karasu began to walk closer. They could hear her giving out throaty chuckle and then a giggle at their pathetic attempts. She then raised her right whip arm and pointed it at them.

"Who's next?" she asked maliciously. She then pressed another button on her whip and then the whip straightened and shrunk down, hardening itself into a standard size katana blade made from lightning with electricity sparking and coiling around the newly formed sword.

Meanwhile during the fight that the Shinobi from the eastern lands across the ocean were now engaging Karasu's guards and Elite soldiers and his loyal followers, Kaname took the opportunity to slip away and hurried back down into the mines to rally more men to the surface. He avoided the major bloodbath that was going on in the courtyard and snuck back towards the main elevator that led back down into the mines, seeing that it is the only place he could go. As soon as he reached the elevator and opened the gate doors he heard frantic cries behind him.

"Kaname- Sama! Help us!" several miners were heading his way in a fit of hysteria and panic. He could see that they have lost the will to fight and have turned tail and ran. Unfortunately, this ended up attracting the attention of several soldiers who were now making their way over to them and they were now aiming their sights onto them and the leader.

"Bakayarou! Don't attract their attention over here you idiots! Turn around and fight!" he roared at them in anger and fear as he quickly shut the elevator gates and was frantically pushing random buttons for the elevator to go down. The four rebel miners slammed onto the gate and were desperate to get it open.

"Kaname-sama! Help us!"

"I don't wanna die!"

"Let me in!"

Kaname however ignored their pleas and pulled out his pistol and pointed it at them. "I said turn around and fight goddamn you! Turn around and fight you fucking cowards! I've got to go back down into the mines to rally more men. It's up to you to hold these bastards off!" Kaname gave them false reassurance although it was half true.

"They're slaughtering us! We'll die for sure!"

"Shut up and do as I say!" he roared until he saw the guards behind them and dived to the floor.

 ***RATATATATAATA!*** the miners were suddenly peppered with oncoming rounds and multiple holes were forming as the live rounds blasted through them and blood stained the elevator red. Kaname who was covered in their blood was on the floor shivering in fear as he looked up to the see the void look in the miners faces as they were looking at him, questioning and judging him. The elevator suddenly activated and went back down into the mines.

Karasu saw the whole thing as she slashed through another ROOT through the chest leaving a bright scorching orange burn mark.

"Run all you like… but running back down into hell, you will find that there are no places to hide for people like you from the likes of me." She thought menacingly.

 **(End song)**

* * *

 **(Playing Hans Zimmer Interstellar OST: mountains.)**

 **(Unknown Location)**

After plummeting straight down to the thirteenth floor of the mine and crashing into the rocky abyss, Naruto suddenly found himself waking up to different scenery. Instead of the dirt, dust and tonnes of scrap metal and rock burying him, he found himself submerged into shin high was still wearing his mining apparels that he usually wears with his hood up and gas mask still on with the scarf underneath it. His battery pack was currently missing while the oxygen tank still remained strapped to his back.

Naruto aroused himself from unconsciousness as he blinked from behind his red tinted goggles. He immediately shot up from the cold feeling of water soaking him. He supported himself on one hand and began to check himself for any signs of injury. Noticing that he was fine, he then took in his surroundings to find himself in a dark, dank and wet sewer or something that looked like a flooded out industrial basement or something along the lines that did not smell of human shit, decay, or rot. He noticed that there were pipes running along these stone brick walls and the light was incredibly dim.

"Where am i? How the hell did I end up in this place and not at the bottom of the elevator shaft of floor 13? And this place… feels depressing…cold even… yet…familiar." He peered over to the pipes and he could've sworn he felt energy coming through those pipes. He walked over to this slightly rusted pipe and placed his hand over the metal. Once he placed his whole hand on it, he immediately recoiled back and was grasping onto his head as he had a sudden flux of memories surging through his head. Memories he had thought he discarded and forgotten long ago.

" **Why are you here!? Get out of my shop you damn demon!"**

" **You will never amount to anything loser"**

" **Once a failure, always a failure."**

" **I will always be the alpha around here you hear me! Like a Dobe like you can beat an alpha like me!"**

" **Naruto-Baka! How dare you insult Sasuke-kun!"**

" _ **N-N-Naruto-Kun…G-Good luck"**_

" **You dare taint our heiress you dirty fucking filthy peasant!"**

" **Why can't you be more like Sauske? He is a genius and you're just wasting your time messing about, and now look at you… you've failed the graduation exam again."**

"Shut up…"

" **You beat an Uchiha? Ha! Yeah right Baka!… He is the clan heir and you are nothing but an Orphan and the dead last… what're ya gonna do?"**

"I said shut up!"

" **Today we shall rid ourselves of this vile reincarnation of the fox! We shall finish the job of our beloved Yondaime!"**

" **I'm sorry Naruto, but I do not know who your parents are."**

" **Your parents must've hated to have a child like you. Heck, who wouldn't?"**

" **I bet your father was just a deadbeat loser who was piss drunk and fucked a whore over in the red light district and then later she left you because of what you are."**

" **I AM better than you Dobe, at least I know that my parents loved me."**

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Naruto roared out and his roar echoed off of the walls and just like that the voices stopped. Naruto was breathing roughly through his gas mask and his hand was pressed hard against his face.

"What the hell was that? I thought I moved on from that and forgot all about it like I wanted to? But I am still reminded about that place… why can't I escape from it?"

" **It's because it's impossible to run away from it."**

And just like that, Naruto's eyes opened wide in alarm and he turned quickly towards the owner of the deep voice that sounded wise. He turned around and at first he found nothing, but dark tunnels and no one else who fit the owner of the voice. The voice he heard sounded like it belonged to a female… but it was something…more…

 ***Splash!***

Naruto suddenly heard splashing from behind him and he immediately turned around to see someone with red hair disappearing into a passageway.

"Matte!" he called out to the red haired woman, but she disappeared into the shadows. He chased after her into the shadowy passageways and dark tunnels that were flooded with water. He navigated his way through seemingly endless tunnels that were filled with industrial pipes. He would sometimes stop and look around and sometimes he would be stuck at some places that would cut into three passageways that would lead deeper into darkness or descending down to somewhere deeper or ascending upwards into kami knows what is in this place.

Sometimes he would hear sounds that would result into more splashes that would indicate on where that red headed woman would be or she would sometimes reveal herself standing a few feet away before running off would be the usual case, but he was now suspecting that she was leading him somewhere as he went deeper and deeper into the tunnels. And then after turning one corner, he began to find more strange things about this place. The tunnels he was in, flooded as they were, was not actually a sewer, but more something along the lines of an abandoned industrial factory. Naruto figured he was in some sort of basement as the further he went along, he would sometimes come across bits and pieces of scrap metal off of random machinery and then sometimes he would see chains hanging off the ceiling just clinking by itself.

The chase then led him to an area that baffled him. He came across an underground passageway with a large pool of water that leads to nowhere. Inside the pool of water was this odd looking Warship that was capsized and turned on its side with big gaping holes in numerous places that had been left to rust. He had never seen anything like it and he thought that it must've been a powerful ship back in its prime.

" _ **Naruto…**_ **"**

Naruto turned towards the voice and saw the beautiful, red headed woman who was seven feet away from him and standing next to a stairway.

" _ **Over here"**_ The voice said enticingly before she disappeared behind the stairway's corner.

"What the hell does she want?" Naruto frowned slightly. "She's been leading me through this place for about 10 minutes." He shook his head and resumed the chase and ascended the stairway and went further up.

As soon as he reached the final step of the stair way he was soon met with another room that was similar to an underground place was like a factory assembly line that was in complete disarray. The machines were left stationary and frozen as it had been long since deactivated and abandoned. Rust, dust and grime was everywhere. Then he suddenly heard a clunking sound in the distance and saw that there was a staircase leading up to some sort of control room. He saw the red headed woman open it, turn towards him and smiled at him before entering the room.

Naruto thought he had her now and what she wanted to show him was right inside that control room. So he ran all the way across the large room, escalated up the stairs, opened the door and went inside to see… an empty control room.

"Huh?...what?…She was right here!" he spoke in disbelief. 'was she leading me on this entire time?' he was about to go into this massive cursing fit if it did turn out to be something like that…but he then spotted something that caught his attention. There was a computer screen that was still on. Naruto decided to go up to the screen and was met with a pitch black screen, but with a blinking icon on it.

Naruto being confused and slightly curious, decided to press a random key into the computer.

 **[Access denied]**

 **[Please insert the Prometheus key into the slot]**

"Prometheus?" Naruto raised an eyebrow and the computer than showed an image of a key slot with three holes for something to be slotted recognised something as he took out the amulet with the three silver fins and the black sphere like pearl inside. "Is this the key? And is that is its name?...Prometheus?"

Naruto being he curious one that he was decided to comply with this computer's request and inserted the fins into the he was not expecting was for the sphere to light up like a blazing star and then with his hand still on the amulet/key, his mind was then flooded with images and visions.

 **(Playing Hans Zimmer Interstellar OST: mountains. approximately 1:55 minutes into the song)**

There were instances of certain images and visions just flooding into his head along with information he did not know about. He could not accurately describe what it was that he was seeing as he could see himself just weightless in the air and he was being shown everything around him. He was first thrown into a black void filled with countless stars that shone brightly like diamonds, and then he was in front of this giant sphere of burning fury. But he was then mysteriously informed that this was the sun that he knew was what lit up the sky in the day. He never knew that is was actually a big ball of burning gases and exuded light that travelled for millions of…light years away?

The information that he was then shown was these elements beyond the sky and into the void. He was then shown this giant swirl of mass made up of billions of stars or suns and then also made up of Gas and dust and they were all held together with gravitational fields.

He was then shown that there were more of these…Galaxies in the universe. Then the image changed as it zoomed into this one galaxy in a specific spot that showed our sun again and it showed multiple spheres surrounding the sun and they were known as planets, some were unimaginably large and some were as big as the moon. The planets were intriguing, as he saw that it had many different environments, while some were as similar to his own planet's environment while others were incredibly bizarre, as well as hostile.

Then the view changed to a familiar blue planet that showed the one white moon inside the Earth's gravitational force. Then it showed several continents, one was very familiar as it showed the elemental nations and the western continent that was just across the ocean, but there were a few more continents and large islands that were directly to the south along with the north and south poles.

It showed him the planet's development and how it became habitable for life to grow on its surface, before human civilisations were first formed. Seeing human history in the making was complicated to watch as seeing the roots of human nature was quite unpredictable, as it seemed to rise and fall in some areas. It also became the epicentre for trouble in the multi/parallel/alternative universe to fester conflicts and then right before the war ends and then the humans just move on again onto the next step in evolution.

He also discovered that there was a big influx of multiverse activity surrounding earth. He saw that there were multiple hypothetical universes that were similar yet different to his own. It showed him different scenarios of his own life of how it could've gone if this or that went different ways. He was also shown that there were such things as an alternate universe where everything was different. That also included a different universe where the world he knew did not exist. Instead, it was replaced with a different version of humanity or a different race with different specialities that were not chakra, but different forms technology.

He was also shown the dark and brutal moments of human history, as well as other civilisations that were not human and more alien/foreign to him. He never knew that so many types of civilisations existed on his world, but they were quite often ridiculed due to racism, the human's natural response to fear, hate and what they don't understand or are completely different to them which also brought with them a sense of superiority.

He saw the primitive civilisations that constructed impressive empires that were made by the blood sweat and tears of men and women that were either forced against their own will or were in it together to make something special. The many civilisations of empires, kingdoms, and other hierarchies he had seen, had been both cruel and oppressive to the people or were benevolent an prosperous towards its's people or were war mongers dead set to destroy their opponents home all for the sake of power and greed.

Then he witnessed advanced civilisations, both human and non-human alike, that showed the capability of travelling across the stars. He saw them constructing weapons that were so powerful and advanced that it would make the most die hard war hawks salivate at the worth and power of weapons such as, nuclear power, electromagnetic repulsion weaponry, lasers, armoured tank warfare, air power, long range missile systems and electronic warfare such as drones, computers and advanced artificial intelligence, robots and machines.

Such weaponry was indeed impressive in its own right, but to make such technology by normal means would require many resources to make it along with converting certain physical elements of compounds and metals, etc. The technology he saw would probably not be available to obtain by normal means for the next few centuries, or the next few millennia for some cases.

But Naruto knew how everything was made and what they required. He saw ways of constructing and manufacturing them, as well the resources that needed to be used and where they could be found. Interestingly, he learned that the amulet had its own source of energy used to make such equipment and technology.

It also taught him some of the world's best kept secrets and that was the location of the transcendent beings known as Kami, Yami and Shinigami realms. The locations and the instructions of entering their realms was dangerous knowledge to know, for if everyone were to know that… He dreaded to think of what people would do to get inside those realms.

He also saw the truth behind the formation of Chakra…this Kaguya who was in reality sealed inside of the moon. How the Sage of the six paths cultivated chakra for the world to use at their own will. He saw how the Juubi was sealed and how all its power was separated and formed into nine sentient beings known as the tailed beasts. The beasts themselves were ranked from 1 to 9 in terms of power with nine being the strongest.

The visions also showed the amulet's own history as it was used by the powerful Empire over the course of a thousand years and how it was constructed as one of the more legendary Teigus of unimaginable power. It first arrived as a meteorite that crashed down from beyond the sky. It had landed in the vast and deep tribal lands of the north where the impact had caused a lot of wide spread devastation to the forest it landed in. The space rock had been disintegrated, losing most of its shape and form, while the remaining parts of the rock were destroyed from the impact.

The tribe that discovered what remained of the rock were clueless as to what it was. In fact, what they didn't know was that the rock that looked to be like a pitch black diamond was actually semi-sentient at the time. While it was intrigued by the sentient life it came across, it rejected them for any potential users as they were not intelligent beings and found them to be quite primitive due to their tribal nature. However, the sentient rock found it quite amusing to see them bow before it. The tribe had named it, "the fallen black star", due to how it fell from the sky in a burning black and white light.

Afterwards, as months passed by, it learned more about these primitive humans, but it was not moved anywhere else. It soon began to grow bored of being stationary. It had infinite amounts of raw powerful energy that needed to be put to use. It wanted to be used, but these humans were just… stagnant, backwards and too peaceful. Then, interestingly enough… its discovery soon led to the arrival of this Empire that was in search of potential weapons. They found the amulet just sitting inside of a big tent on an altar being contained in a well-crafted box. The fallen star saw that these beings were people that had strong emotions, dreams, desires, and ambitions. These people belonged to a powerful civilization and they were the sort of people that could get things done. Finally, it could get out of this boring tent.

The space rock began to flare it's power to catch the attention of the imperial soldiers and scientists. They soon discovered it by following their instincts that were being called to by the strange rock that they had never seen before. They entered the tent without permission from the chieftain of the tribe and discovered the space rock. They could feel the raw power, its enticing appearance and the aura shrouding it. They could hear it calling to them, and they began to see visions of themselves. Visions of grandeur and success that they saw if they were to pick up the stone.

Soon after realising the potential of such a powerful gem hidden inside the space rock, the imperial leader, driven by his desires, attacked the tribe in order to gain control over the gem. The black gem had then received a body of fins surrounding the now pearl shaped body and a small silver chain to hang around one's neck and then given a name…Prometheus. The first user for the Empire was a bull-headed general, who died because he could not handle the power and the negative emotions swirling inside his head which led to his death as he became overly arrogant and deluded. He was soon executed by the emperor for treachery.

It had not found a successful user until the coup when the leader of the coup rose up against the Empire and then eventually got himself killed when a whole team of powerful Teigu user's assassinated him. The leader of the Empire at that time, realised the danger that the particular Teigu possessed. He ordered for the Teigu to be destroyed only to realise that it was indestructible. Rather, it was more like the Teigu would not allow itself to be destroyed. So the emperor decided that if he could not destroy it, he would do the next best thing … He would bury it under tonnes and tonnes of mountain rubble so that no one could find it ever again… until now.

 **(End song)**

Naruto was then eventually released from the amulet/key and collapsed as his brain was overloaded with information on… just about anything that Prometheus decided to share with him. He collapsed on the console gasping for air and clutching the sides of his head which were pulsing from the amount of information forced inside his head. Eventually the pain became too much and his mind within his own mind forced him into a state of unconsciousness again. "What…was that?" he said before he collapsed and passed out in his own mind.

The computer console screen flickered and static began to form into an image of a woman with shadows covering parts of her face. The woman had messy, but spiky short, neck length, shadow-like hair that seemed to have a mind of it's own and was flickering like flames made from black fire. Her eyes were dull white and her skin made her look pale and her expression showed that she had a faint smile forming on her lips. Her whole body could not be seen on the screen, but only showed her bare skin down to her collar bone and the valley between her DD cleavage.

Then from out of the shadows came a 6'0 ft red haired woman with red slitted eyes. She was wearing a formal low cut red kimono that fitted tightly around her slender hour glass form and also exposed her F-cup cleavage with black trimming. She wore no footwear or legwear and walked around bare foot with her smooth long legs on display. This was the type of woman who would have many desperate males panting after her like lost puppies.

 **"I told you he would come… he's just like his father when it comes to red haired females."**

 _[Really? Are you sure it didn't have anything to do with your voluptuous body... The one I gave you the power to form?]_

 **"Ara? Is that jealousy I hear?"**

 _[No… Although he is quite the looker I will admit, but what is so special in this boy?]_

 **"Well he is my container for one."**

 _[And?]_

 **"What do you mean and? I am the Kyyubi No Kitsune, the strongest tailed beast and being in the entire world."**

 _[And I am an extraterrestrial sentient being sealed inside of a stone for over a millennia and was sent flying through space for even longer than you have been roaming around on this planet. I also have far more knowledge about the universe and this world in general than a sentient mass of chakra that is limited only to one planet and a host. Furthermore, you were beaten by an overzealous, idealistic and naive Hokage. Some Biju you are]_

 **"Do you want to be destroyed?"** the red haired fox woman growled.

 _[You can try, but it would be pointless. You may be the most powerful being on this planet, but there are far worse entities beyond this world and the universe… and I am one of them. I cannot easily be destroyed.]_

 **"But you were buried by the humans who acted on their fear to dispose of you."**

 _[And this has what led him to me and me to you.]_

 **"Indeed."**

 _[And now the pact has been made.]_

 **"Are you satisfied with your current master?"**

 _[Hmmmm… a bit rough around the edges, but nonetheless he has the potential to be sharpened into becoming my rightful master. Why don't you try helping him? Sharpen and broaden his potential in order to make him into something great.]_

 **"No…you don't seem to understand my background. I have been stuck inside this monkey's body for the past sixteen years. I would've gotten in contact with him sooner if it wasn't for that cesspit of a former village he used to live in sealing his chakra away."**

 _[Yes, I have seen his memories from what you have shown me, but at least give him a hand out of this mess. You did say you were glad that he woke up through his epiphany.]_

 **"Hmph!... fine, I will lend him my chakra so that he can escape. He may have wised up, but to me he is still pathetic… He had all the chances in the world that he could've taken to escape that mine and that village, but he preferred to not take any chances."**

 _[You know why he will never take those chances… he is too kind.]_

 **"And look where that kindness has gotten him. Stuck at the bottom of an elevator shaft buried under tonnes of scrap metal and rocks, all because of some petty ungrateful humans that don't understand mercy and forgiveness. The boy however has shown so much kindness to strangers, but the majority of them have returned it with disdain written on their faces and they shunned him for no good reasons, but out of sheer pettiness and hatred."**

 _[Now you know that is not exactly true… there are some that do deserve his kindness. You and I know that he has that certain power that will draw people towards him. Even if a person has a tainted heart.]_

 **"How can that be possible? The boy is hated by everyone in his village, because they mistook him for me."**

 _[Nearly everyone… no matter. What does matter is that this boy is a special case.]_

 **"How so?"**

 _[This boy… he is incorruptible... almost.]_

 **"Nani?... How? Nobody can resist the negative emotions and temptations of power. Are you sure about this?"**

 _[Positive… this boy is not like my previous foolish masters. When I show a little bit of my power, they lose themselves to madness and they let their lust for power take over to the point that they can never control themselves. They always go too far before their minds crack and they get executed or killed. All for some selfish reason.]_

 **"That is to be expected of human nature, they always desire more for themselves. Yet they have no idea how to control true power and they always use power for selfish reasons."**

 _[Wars have been started on my behalf because of my masters … I was the one who supplied and fuelled the fires of war, all for their desires of conquest, power and even women. Yet… this boy… he is different. He wants power, but he wants to use it for peace.]_

Kyuubi narrowed her eyes **"Are you testing my sense of humour Prometheus?"**

 _[I can assure you, this is no joke… this boy is special. He took all of the negative aspects of my powers and he simply brushed it aside… I thought you said this boy was like the rest of the humans?]_

 **"That's what I believed."**

 _[Yet this boy is neither good nor evil. He has lived his life in suffering and in pain, yet he still perseveres. If given the right motivation… he could become something special.]_

The Kyuubi growled and turned away from the collapsed body and the computer screen that displayed Prometheus. **"Fine! I will give him my chakra! It will break that damn seal that is inhibiting his own chakra. That way he should by instinct use it to get himself out of the mine. I have done my end of the bargain… now you do yours."** She dissipated into a mass of chakra and flew out of the door and into the tunnels below where the Fox remained behind sealed doors.

Prometheus smiled and then the computer screen went into a static haze and then a static buzzing form exited the screen and stepped onto the cold metal floor as it began to take the same form of Prometheus again as the static subsided into the appearance of a young woman wearing a bright white lab coat that covered her pale form.

"She is a lot more reasonable when I consumed her hatred and all of her negative emotions. It was the only way for me to talk to her. I really do have a special master don't I?... Well, without further ado..." She walked over to the console and typed in a few commands.

 **[Commence restoration process: Y / N]**

 **(Interstellar OST: Day One Dark start at 3:43)**

She hit the enter key and the whole ruined factory around her and Naruto began to shift. The stone in the amulet began to shine out brightly as it used its power to restore the factory to how it used to be… well not quite like before. With the Kyuubi's chakra, she could make it bigger… better.

She and the slowly awakening Naruto watched from the control room as the factory floor began to split apart and all of the rusted, decrepit machinery and all of the robots that used to work there were being flushed out through gigantic cracks in the floor and walls as dark shadowy tendrils collected the leftover machinery and abandoned scrap metal, pushing all of it into the large open cracks. Suddenly, the walls began to crumble and tear apart. The scenery began to grow larger as it revealed an open field now with futuristic industrial buildings, factories and towers rising up from out of the ground.

When Naruto opened his eyes and saw what was happening outside of the control room, he was speechless. He had never seen anything like this. The industrial city far outclassed the Hidden Leaf and possibly even the Empire's capital. The buildings that towered up into the skies were huge, as if the rods of metal on top of those buildings could indeed pierce the sky. There were even gigantic factories with no chimney stacks. He noticed that there was now a lot of activity going on in those factories and elsewhere. There were separate factories built for civilian purposes, as well as military purposes such as land, air and sea….

'Wait?... How did I know that?'

"You can feel it, can't you Naruto?" Prometheus turned around to face Naruto and gave him an ecstatic grin. "It is the beating heart of the pandemonium of the upcoming Revolution. All of this technological knowledge inside your mindscape has the potential to change this primitive world!" she walked up to him and picked him up effortlessly.

"And you will be the one to lead it."

Naruto looked at her in the eyes to sense if she was joking or if she had a screw loose in her head. "Why me? can't somebody else do it?"

"I am afraid not Naruto-sama… the other…users were inept at handling this level of power responsibly and ended up with them getting too consumed in their own desires and madness. As a result, I have been unable to succeed in my own goals. This power is too great for normal humans to control, but you however… are something very special."

"Me?...Special?...Who or what makes you think that?"

"A certain fox, while very stubborn about it, actually insisted I give you a chance in return that I help her in some ways."

Naruto's eyes narrowed when she mentioned fox. His speculations of long awaited suspicions were drawing in closer as he felt that she knew the answers he was looking for.

"But that will be for another time…You however, need to sit tight and let us deal with this mess that you have gotten yourself into." she said before a wall opened up and she threw him inside only for him to fall into the deep dark depths of a void all the while shouting in frustration and panic.

Prometheus then rolled her head and returned to the newly formed holographic computer and let her fingers glide over the holographic keyboard. "And now… we breakout." She said all the while hitting a few keys and hitting enter.

* * *

The mine of Mt Khan was in absolute chaos. It had evolved into a three way fight between Revolutionaries/Miners, Foreign Shinobi and the Empires Elite Special forces/ Imperial guards led by Lt. Col. Karasu.

So far both breakout attempts ended in complete disasters due to the inept leadership skill of the revolutionary Kaname Shunsui, who had fled into the mines desperately trying to descended deeper so that he could get away from the Demon Governess who was catching onto his scent like a bloodhound with the intent of ripping him to shreds with her whip.

Kaname was cowering inside the elevator as he reminisced the previous laughter of his loyal follower and the power that Karasu held. "So that is the power of a Teigu user… not even those Ninjas stood a chance. She's on a whole different level compared to us!"

 **"Kaname!"** a demonic shriek was heard on the top floor where Karasu was now at the elevator gate on the ground floor screaming down the elevator shafts where Kaname, who was on the 5th floor coming down to level six, could hear her clearly.

" **Do you really think you can get away from me!? When I find you I will set my whip to the max and I will get payback for all the pain you brought onto my Naru-kun! This I swear to you!"** she said with the promise of an agonising and painful retribution against him. Then he heard and felt the gate of the top floor slam down on the roof of the elevator.

"Hiiiii!" he whimpered and in a panic he ran over to the elevator control pad and pressed the emergency stop just as soon as he reached the sixth floor. The elevator stopped just in time and he manually opened the gate by forcing it open.

Once he forced his way out, he saw the scene that was laid out in front of him. The sixth floor residential district was now in a mass riot and panic as the Imperial guards were moving in to exterminate the threat that was the rebelling miners who desperately using anything and everything as weapons as they were now leaderless, because of the exposure of the fraud that had claimed to be their saviour.

The guards were all armed with pistols, rifles, shotguns and automatic weapons along with clubs, batons and other blunt melee weapons as well as blades armed together with riot shields. The disciplined and highly trained soldiers, that were personally trained by Karasu herself, along with her own personal Special Forces, were decimating the Rebellion as they were now in disarray. Buildings were on fire, and clouding the area in black smoke, explosions caused by dynamite and grenades that devastated everything, causing parts of the tunnels to collapse on fighters from by both sides. The ninja were also involved in the slaughter as they targeted everyone. They were superior in CQC and also skilled and stronger with their own powers that was exclusive to them back wherever they came from.

"Kaname!" a random large miner, who was practically a giant with a height of 6' 4, came charging towards him. He had a large barrel chest and log sized arms and had a skinhead and was currently topless, but covered in scars, wounds and blood. He looked to be slightly dim-witted, but nevertheless he understood Kaname's ploy.

"You have brought this upon us!" he roared pointing an accusing finger at the blue haired coward and like a mighty and furious bear, he roared and charged at Kaname with his over sized pickaxe raised above his head ready to strike it down upon him.

Kaname panicked and brought out his gun and fired at the furious bear of a miner who wanted vengeance for himself and his now deceased friends that he had used only to get them killed for nothing. He fired two, three and four times into the chest of the large miner, but he still kept on charging. Just before he closed the distance, Kaname shot at his head and the bullet took a piece of his skull and face off as it skimmed against his cheekbone. The attack made him stop his charge and he collapsed on the ground in front of Kaname.

Kaname was now hyperventilating from the fear he just felt from that man's bloodlust and the scene that was happening in front of him. There was even a noticeably wet patch on his trousers where his crotch was. In his mind, he was cursing up a storm.

'Shit! Shit! Shit! My dream!... My life!… My purpose!... How did this go so wrong!... How could this… one boy derail all my plans by his mere presence!? This is his entire fault! If it weren't for him... !' He stopped once he felt a huge pressure from a massive killing intent soaring down the elevator shaft and closing in fast to his current location.

"Then I wouldn't be having to deal with her!" he screamed out in terror and fled into the mines in search for more elevators or stairs to run down further into the mines to hide, while he avoided the current war that had erupted everywhere in the mines.

Karasu landed on top of the elevator with a mighty bang and dented the roof of the elevator causing it to shift from its position as her collision strained the steel cable and the winch system at the top floor. She ripped open the roof of the elevator and jumped inside to kick open the gate which made it fly off and hit two miners that were charging at the Imperial guards.

She looked around at the residential district in disdain. A few moments later, several soldiers ran up to report their progress to her and saluted her before they gave out their reports. "Mam! Security breaches and the mass rioting have been silenced on floors 1-5 and the rebels are cleared out on every floor above us. We have almost quelled this floor and were about to join up with the seventh platoon located on the seventh floor below us."

"Good…" she nodded in satisfaction. "Any problems?"

"The ninjas are proving too troublesome for our men to proceed as they are booby-trapping the tunnels with some kind of paper explosives and the rebel miners keep on triggering them, making it difficult for us to proceed. They're also using their shinobi elemental jutsus which have put a strain on our manpower. They're not impossible to kill without firearms and if you are quick enough to cut them, they're just tricky to deal with."

"Why hasn't the second platoon... you know what never mind, I'll deal with them myself." she turned towards the horde of miners that were cornered inside of a building that was being focused on by gun squads with their automatic weapons.

"By the way? Have you seen a cowardly blue haired man pass through here? His name is Kaname and he was the one who started all of this."

"There have been reported sightings of him, but we were unable to intercept him because of heavy fighting in some areas. From the looks of where he was going, I would say you have got him on the run and he is trying to flee further down into the mines."

"Tell second platoon to cut him off at the south elevators and stairways on this floor. I want that bastard captured alive!" she growled out and activated her whip that had now reverted back into one whip and was now covered in blood red bladed thorns.

"Bleed for me! Bloodthirster!" she called out the name of the form and increased the pain intensifier dial up to X9 and dashed over to the enemy's side that was being hammered by the guards and the Cerberus SF.

She landed in the centre of a large group who all turned to face her in shock and surprise. Karasu never gave them a chance to strike first as she used her whip teigu that was covered in sharp bladed thorns that could shred through skin and muscle like they were butter. She twirled the whip above her head and swiped it to the left. The whip cracked in the air as the bladed tips of the whip sliced through several torsos with ease.

"Gaahh!" the miners screamed in agony as the blades pierced their flesh and they all felt their blood leaving their bodies through their wounds, but it didn't feel as if it was seeping out… no, it was being drained out and being absorbed through the whip.

Karasu's whip Teigu had activated another feature of Belmont called Bloodthirster. A vampiric trait that could absorb the blood of whoever the whip struck and convert the blood into a boost of raw power which increased her strength, speed and agility like being in a blood frenzy/berserker state.

Her veins were then visibly glowing with a crimson colour and her amber irises was now glowing brightly. She then moaned delightfully as she received her power boost. "Sorry boys, but you don't interest me. So let's make this quick." She said simply and her form flickered with a burst of speed before a random miner was beheaded by an unseen whip crack that sliced through the air and no one had seen her flicking her wrist. "So who wants to die next? Cos none of you will be leaving this mine alive." She hissed out maliciously as she her presence produced a heavy aura of mind breaking Ki that was having a negative effect on the miners as their fear and desperation suddenly spiked dramatically.

The miners shifted in their position before a man in his thirties snarled and suddenly reacted violently "Well it ain't gonna be me!" he yelled before he shoved a rather young miner in front of Karasu who reacted on instinct and plunged the tip of her whip into his chest.

Karasu's reaction was of genuine surprise that the miner had shoved one of his comrades and then saw him run off fleeing with his tail behind his legs. Some nearby miners were outraged that he did that and tried to intercept him, only for the miner to draw out a pick axe and pierce an incoming miner in the chest with the tip. Then the other miner's friend retaliated by sinking the sharp blade of his machete and cutting into his shoulder, instantly killing him. From there, the situation soon devolved into an open mutiny against one another and everyone else, as it pretty much turned into a state of every man for themselves and soon began to target one another and anyone that got in their way.

"Ara?...Well what do you know, they acted on their fear and have now turned against each other…How sad..." Karasu just looked on unimpressed. "Well Kaname, here are the fruits of your labour. You tried to recruit the wrong people to your cause and look at what it has rewarded you with… undisciplined, selfish, untrained, divided, dysfunctional, untrustworthy and cowardly subordinates. You have chosen unwisely... welp… time to exterminate some vermin, they have now past their usefulness." She clicked her neck and was about to charge into the fray until…

 **"GRRRAAAAAAAGHH!** " a loud, full-throated demonic roar was heard from every floor in the mine and all activity stopped as every miner and guard froze in fear as they felt a huge spike of oppressive KI coming from below them.

Karasu's head snapped towards the elevator and connected the dots of where that roar had come from. "That roar…it came from all the way down to the bottom floor… No, it felt as though it was deeper than that… Naruto-Kun? H-he…he's alive!" her eyes lit up in realisation before her lips turned upwards behind her respirator mask and her eyes shimmered as pool of tears were forming. When she felt the oppressive KI, she shivered in bliss and euphoric ecstasy.

"Mmmhhmm! You always know how to make a woman feel great. You are really becoming more interesting the more I know about you. You are really… something." She purred as her eyes glinted and her cheeks were flushed. She then chuckled to herself as she could feel and hear his fury and it was turning her on. "Oh yes… really something... I want you even more now than ever, slave or not. " She licked her lips sensually behind her respirator. "And if Budo were to complain… well he can stick it up his ass for all I care." she giggled before she rejoined the slaughter.

* * *

 **(Five minutes before)**

The miners were panicking on the twelfth floor as they were running around with no objective in mind and were in mass hysteria. One of the miners tried to regain control of the situation. "What the fuck is happening up there!?"

"It's Kaname! He lied to us, and now Karasu is on the warpath! We also have those fucking shinobi massacring us all because we killed the Governess's bitch."

"Well where the hell is that coward Kaname?"

"Somewhere between the 5th and 7th floors and going deeper. He's fleeing away from the battle and leaving us all to fend for ourselves from the wolves!"

"Shit! Now what're we gonna do?!" the miners who were wearing gas mask equipment were cursing out to their cowardly leader. What they were unaware of was that deep down in the depths of floor 13, there was a sudden shift from an arm sticking out of the rubble, rocks and scrap metal. The rocks and metal began to groan and shift as it began to rise.

'Just sit back and let us handle this Naruto-kun. You have a lot to learn, so pay close attention.'

The fingers on Naruto's exposed arm began twitching erratically and then started to dig trenches into the ground. Crimson red and black chakra then began to ooze out of the rock like wisps of flame and smoke. The rocks began to rumble and suddenly, they exploded as a hand and head burst free from out of the rocks and the remains of the elevator. The figure that burst free from the remains of the elevator was Naruto still clad in his signature mining outfit. His appearance was now battered and bloody as his injuries and wounds were in the process of healing themselves due to an accelerated healing on the Kyuubi's behalf. All of his wounds were producing steam as the wounds sealed up and healed themselves.

His outfit, while torn in some places and was covered in a lot of dust and blood, still remained strong. Even his respirator and goggles were in surprisingly good condition. But what was different about them was the chakra cloak that was shrouding his form, causing them to glow an ethereal red. Even his red tinted goggles glowed a more brighter reddish colour than ever before due to his eyes now changing into the crimson-slitted eyes of the Kyuubi.

After he slowly rose out of the rocks and the wreckage, rage was slowly building up in his veins at the memories of the underhanded act that the miners had attempted on his life. All of the memories resurfaced of the many cowardly, dirty and underhanded acts that have ever been attempted on his life by the miners, the villagers and several shinobi that tried to end his life even though he had never done any wrong against them. Yet, they always attempted something against him over the littlest things for just the reason of existing… no… it's because they refused to see him as anything but the demon... Fine then! If they want a demon, then they will get one.

"That's right… they do not deserve your kindness nor your mercy. It's time for you to teach them a few lessons in respect, insight and several more lessons that they are sorely lacking in." Prometheus told him through the mind link as Naruto was currently still unconscious. It was his instincts that were being taken over by the foxes chakra and Prometheus was taking control of it in order to get him out of the mines, even if she had to slaughter every last miner or anyone else that got in her way.

More and more chakra began pumping through all of his tenketsu chakra nodes, jump starting his chakra pathway system and his body. The result was that Naruto felt like he was at the level of a seasoned Jonnin or Anbu, possibly Kage with the level of power he was at. Mixing the power and his rage that he felt surging through his body, a growl was now heard rumbling in his throat before his teeth grinded together. He lifted his head and filled his lungs with air from the oxygen canister before he unleashed a furious roar up the elevator shaft that was heard throughout the entire mine.

"GRRAAAAAAAAGH!"

* * *

(Elsewhere on floor seven)

Kaname lifted his head and looked around frantically in fear. He could feel his heart sinking further into despair. He was now officially fucked. If he were to turn back, then he would be risking his life if he were to bump into the Governess of the mine, and if he were to go further down, then he would be facing this new threat that had now appeared out of nowhere.

That roar sounded like a pissed off danger beast. Perhaps the miners had disturbed it from it's sleep either from all of the mining or from all of the fighting. No matter, he couldn't stay where he was, because he feared the Governess more than this recent new player on the battlefield. Hopefully, the miners or the guards, Karasu's special forces unit or those shinobi would've already dealt with the problem on whatever floor it was on by the time he arrived on that floor to escape from the scorned Governess.

Little did he realise was that said apparent danger beast was in fact somebody that he shouldn't have pissed off.

* * *

(Floor twelve)

Several miners wearing standard issue gas masks all heard the roar and headed towards the source of said roar.

"It came from down there! I think sending that demon down to his death has disturbed some kind of danger beast down there."

"Don't worry, I've got a solution to this." one of them pulled out a long fuse of a pack of four stuck together dynamite.

"Woah dude, seriously be careful with that!"

"Relax man! We are nowhere near any dangerous spots of gas build ups around here. This area is quite safe." He assured his fellow miner as he lit the long fuse on the dynamite and dropped it down the elevator shaft. They all waited in anticipation for the explosion to go off.

"..."

"Erm? how long was the fuse meant to be?"

"10 seconds… Should've gone off by now." The man who threw the dynamite peered over cliff into the deep dark elevator shaft.

"Fuse must've sizzled out, try lighting another."

As soon as he said that the man who was peering over the shaft was suddenly hit in the face by a stack of four red cylindrical objects. The miner that was hit in the face, reeled back in pain from his broken nose and cracked gas mask lenses which flew into his eye.

The rest of the miners spotted something sizzling and they all turned towards the four stack of dynamite stuck together with tape and the fuse was now 2 seconds away from detonating.

"Whoa!" *BOOOOM!* the miner in charge of the little group tried to yell at his friends to move away from the dynamite, but he was too late. The dynamite exploded and a large fireball erupted from the four red cylinders. The blast sent dust, rocks and stones flying everywhere and catapulted all of them away from the area covered by the blast radius. All of them suffered from burn wounds, cauterized injuries and even dismemberment. Several were killed while a few were left gravelly wounded.

The blast caught the attention of a a group of four miners as they rushed over to the area to assess the damage.

"What the hell!?"

"What happened here?"

"Were we attacked?"

"No… the guards are attacking floors 1 through 6. Those damn shinobi are likely behind this, but I doubt it was them because I haven't heard any reports of them being down here yet."

As they were contemplating on what had happened to the miners, one of them decided to peer over the elevator shaft and looked down. He was in for a surprise as he suddenly felt something grab onto his leg and then yank him down, throwing him into the shaft screaming all the way down until he was heard no more.

 **(Playing song Doom 2016 OST Rip and Tear)**

The miners all turned towards the elevator shaft in time to see two hands appearing on the ledge and then a young man hauled himself up. What they saw chilled their blood ice-cold. As what or who they saw was the object of their everyday hate, grudge and spite rising up from the elevator shaft that was supposed to be his grave. Yet here he was, defying death when they didn't want him alive. They heard heavy breathing and growling through the respirator and the glowing effect on the red-lensed goggles that disturbed them to no end.

He turned his head towards them and the miners lost their nerves and fearfully pointed their guns at him, which only served to anger Naruto even more. Naruto responded to their threats by instinctively using the Foxes chakra to manipulate the environment like an instinctive Genjustu that was as cunning as a fox's nature. He targeted the light bulbs fixed to the ceiling that were illuminating the area around them. The bulbs began to flicker on and off as they were quickly starting to lose power, causing the miners were beginning to lose sight of him.

They could only see the full body of their target in the light before the light suddenly dimmed into darkness. The only thing they could see of him was the glowing image of his crimson goggles that glowed menacingly in the darkness. Before the second time it dimmed, the miners took no chances and opened fire hoping to end him once and for all, but the major flickering of the lights were messing with their aim as one moment they saw him in one place and then he was at another by the time the lights lit up the area to show where he was next. The goggles somewhat showed where he was, because seeing the glowing effect of the goggles was like seeing two lines of red light streaking across the room towards them. It would've looked pretty if it weren't for the fact that said red light were glaring at them with the intent to kill.

The muzzle flashes also illuminated the area slightly as they could see him coming closer with each flash and flicker of the lights. Unfortunately, those were just glimpses of him as he would suddenly change position with each flash from each light. The bullets from each gun were not hitting their target as their aim was too erratic due to the miners'overwhelming fear. It did not help that their fear prevented them from noticing that the bullets in the magazines were running dry. They eventually ran out by the time Naruto reached them. When he did… the slaughter began.

Using his natural and enhanced strength, he brutally took down the miners when they least expected it as the flashing lights were throwing off their senses. They did not know where he was, because he moved so fast in the dark that they could not retaliate. So far they had been beaten, bashed and slashed from using someone's dropped machete by sinking it into someone else's forehead.

The one miner at the back was frantically and desperately trying to reload his old assault rifle that had seen better days. He kept glancing at the brief moments of the slaughter as the lights kept on blinking and flickering. He saw men sent flying by that monster's fists that hit them like sledgehammers. The force was so great that it shattered their gas masks and even parts of their skulls or even smashed it in along with the bones in their bodies at such a speed that he could not follow.

At last he finally reloaded his rifle and brought it back up to shoot him until the final blink lit up the room… and he was gone.

"N-Nani?" he blinked in confusion and fear. "Wh-Where did he go?" he looked around him and saw no one as he thought he heard someone breathing through a respirator. He even panicked and shot off a few rounds when he thought he saw him in the shadows behind a corner or something.

"Where are you!?" he shouted down the tunnels.

"Right here." A deep demonic, yet muffled sounding voice was heard through a respirator. The miner tried to turn around, but he couldn't as he felt something a sharp drilling through the centre of his spine and out through the centre of his torso.

"Gaaaagh!" he screamed in agony as Naruto shoved his mining drill into the miner's back while it was powered on. The drill dug a huge hole into the miners back and Naruto, using his abnormal strength, lifted the miner up high and hung him up there while blood was gushing out of his back and pouring down the drill and onto Naruto's arms.

Naruto kept him up for a few seconds, until more rebel miners were starting to pour into the tunnels as they heard the sounds of screaming, gunshots and an explosion. Once they arrived, they watched in horror as they discovered that Governess' favourite slave and their living grudge, was alive and well and had just slaughtered their own comrades that were involved in the rebellion.

They soon recovered from their shock as outrage filled their veins and someone shouted out orders to open fire to hopefully kill him. Naruto then ran towards them with the miner still impaled on the large mining drill that was still boring through his torso. Naruto, with one one swift movement, snatched the assault rifle from out of his hands.

The miner was still hanging by the drill in his torso and Naruto used his strength to lift the miner up as he was not that tall. When he heard the orders to shoot, he began to freak out. "No wait! D-don't shoot!" he tried to tell them as he was fearful of his life. But his fellow miners ignored him and they all fired a barrage of live ammo into him. He was no more after that as his body was being peppered with bullets and was painting Naruto and the tunnel red with his blood.

Naruto ignored the bullets hitting the body he was holding, as well as the stray rounds that penetrated through the body, grazing and sometimes hitting him. He ignored all of that in favour of charging towards their position while firing the assault rifle from underneath the miner's right side, while he held the miner and the drill with his left arm. Naruto charged at the squad sized group of miners and emptied the whole mag of the assault rifle on fully automatic and every shot met its target with incredible accuracy.

Several bodies fell until only one remained. The last person, being that of the leader of the squad, fumbled in trying to get his pistol out of the holster that was inside his trousers, only for it to get caught on a piece of loose fabric. As he was struggling to pull the pistol free, he looked up and was met with the body of the impaled miner as it was thrown at him from the drill.

The leader tried to throw the corpse off of him, but was soon sent back down by a large boot slamming into and pressing onto his chest and holding him down. The rebel miner looked up and was staring at the sharp drill head hovering above his face. The miner reacted and drew out a knife and plunged it straight through Naruto's boot and into his foot… and he didn't even flinch. The miner took out the knife and looked up to see Naruto tilting his head at him as if he was smirking at his feeble attempts at survival. The miner stared in shock and despair as he watched helplessly as his actions were not having the desired effect in order to save his own life. The life of the rebel soon ended when the drill was plunged into his chest.

The drill then fizzled out and died due to the battery dying as a result of a malfunction. Although Naruto didn't care as he had already decided to discard the drill. He dropped the drill, along with the heavy battery pack, lifting a lot of weight from his shoulders as the only thing remaining on his shoulders was the oxygen canister.

Naruto then looked at the assault rifle in his right hand held it near his face so he could inspect this powerful and deadly weapon that offered so much potential. The rifle itself was actually just junk that was supposed to be scrapped though.

Images and visions soon poured into his heads of alterations and variations of the assault rifle. Some looked large and utilitarian, while others looked sleek and light. He was also shown what other uses he could do with it such as methods of improving said weapon with devices and attachments that would drastically increase the combat ability of the weapon and the user. He was then shown similar weapons that had different roles, but they all fit in the same category of guns. These weapons that he was seeing were far more impressive than the weapons he mostly saw in the mines, but these weapons were from different places that he had never seen or heard of before. He wasn't even sure if they existed in this world.

' _ **You won't need that. You can make something so much better than that piece of scrap metal. Let me show you how to build.'**_

Suddenly, there were black and red shadow tendrils pouring out of Naruto's arms. They latched onto and consumed the weapon and began to convert it into something far superior than the outdated model he was holding. In his hands, replacing the bulky rectangular weapon that was too heavy for an assault rifle, was something very new and far more advanced. In his hands was a smaller, more compact assault rifle that was roughly the same length as before. Naruto, who was subconsciously watching while Prometheus took control of his unconscious body, could not explain how a weapon had suddenly formed out of black and red fire, like it was... forged out of the remains of an old rusted and worn out firearm. The weapon's name flooded into his head and where it came from was a place that was nigh impossible to reach through normal standards, because it didn't exist in his world.

 _ **'I can easily do that and so much more Naruto-Sama… for I am an engineer, vastly superior to all others. I have the power to create empires that can span for miles, a whole continent or even the world. I can build armies that far outclass any others and no one will be able to oppose you. However… I cannot reach the best of my abilities. My masters were… narcissistic, arrogant, self-centred and selfish power hungry fools. They used my power and wasted it on useless endeavours to gain more power for themselves and just themselves. But you… you have potential. I can see it…the power of a leader… no… that of a king… an all-powerful leader capable of leading this stagnant world into an era of true peace, prosperity and beyond. You understand that peace cannot be obtained through words alone. Actions will have a more everlasting effect.**_

 _ **It will be difficult at first. You will have to face the darkness that you were afraid of someday. You will have to brave through the hatred in order to obtain peace. You may even have to quell all of your own hatred in order to obtain it. That is what I wish for, true peace through power… but you are not ready yet. You need to learn what it takes in order to achieve this goal…**_

 _ **You wanted to be Hokage right?... What for? Respect and recognition? By now you should already understand that respect and recognition is earned, but you have never earned it enough while living in a village filled with idiotic traditions, bigotry and favouritism. Why should you be a leader of a place that is stuck in the past and is afraid to move on, when you can be a true leader that will lead your people forward into the future and leave all of that hatred and darkness behind? You were a child living in the darkness of a village that refused to move on and let go of their blinding hatred, but now is your chance to break those chains that have been holding you down. You know what is right for this world. So what if you have to get your hands dirty in order to achieve it? There are always going to be those that oppose you and in their beliefs they will want to believe that you are evil, convincing themselves that you are subhuman. Somehow undeserving of all the basic liberties that is granted so freely to others. The majority of the civilians and ninja of Konoha that are against you will definitely do this to justify their actions against you, but remember this… The person who seeks excuses for their actions is doomed to fail.**_

 _ **Take this weapon… and show the world of what you are capable of!"**_

His mind remained quiet until a voice sounded in his head.

'Why?' Naruto responded mentally

 _ **'Hm?'**_

'Why should I do that for you?'

 ** _'Didn't you used to dream?'_**

'That was a long time ago. My dreams have been crushed and they are now impossible to obtain.'

 _ **'That is what I am trying to tell you… that this world is dark and cruel. Dreams are nothing more than a pipe dream to obtain. Corruption, intolerance and injustice are running rampant and with it comes war. People dream, but can only obtain disappointment in the end as fairness and justice will always favor the wrong over the right.'**_

'So why me?'

 _ **'Because you want justice…Don't you?'**_

'…' Naruto remained silent.

 _ **'According to my new roommate… there are secrets being held from you. Big secrets that will definitely demand justice for all the wrongs that have been brought upon you, your family and your clan.'**_

'Nani?' He sounded really surprised and shocked by that.

 _ **'Your Hokage… is not the Jiji you thought him to be. He has kept many secrets from you and has kept many skeletons in his closet. Some of them being from your clan and family, while the rest involves his precious village.'**_

'…' he chose to remain silent again.

 _ **'If you want answers, then prove me right and my roommate wrong. Prove that you are something special. Show the world of what you can do. Break the chains and enforce change by force. Fight evil with evil aimed right back at them so that the innocent will no longer suffer from their actions.'**_

'What you are wanting out of this is for an empire… This sounds like some revolutionary propaganda.'

 _ **'It will be a necessary one… it will teach these ignorant layabouts and bigots some manners and show them proper respect. It will surely teach them that there is more to life than living in some stagnating oppressive government that will always use their power to leech off of the citizens hard work and suck their funds dry all for the benefits of themselves and their interests. This nation and continent does not need another inept leader who could be just as useless or evil as the last. As the saying goes, you would be trading one evil for another, but this time this evil will be necessary for the world and that is where you will come in.'**_

'How so?'

 _ **'You are neither good, nor bad… You are good to those you care about, but you show no mercy to those that don't deserve your kindness. At one time, you showed kindness to many, even though they had the intent to bring you harm, but you have woken up from that. You now understand what the world truly is and how this world needs to move on... and you will be the one to show them the way.'**_

'... What if I don't want to?'

 ** _'You will, because you know I am right.'_**

'…Fine… you better hold up to that deal of yours… I want to know about my family and clan.'

 ** _'Of course and just like you, I never go back on my promises.'_**

'I've never broken my promise to be the Hokage of my old village, because the village did that for me, but this promise, that I will swear to you now, will not be broken by me or anyone. You want an empire? Then I will make one and you will help me build it with your power and my own blood, chakra sweat and tears.'

Somewhere in his mindscape, was a grinning shadow haired woman. _**'Hai Naruto-sama'**_ she nodded.

Then Prometheus was in for another surprise as she suddenly lost control of Naruto's body and he regained consciousness.

"But I will be the one in charge, got that?"

While surprised by his actions, she actually smiled in amusement and intrigue. _ **'I have no objections. I am just an engineer and a Teigu. However, my roommate might prove to be…unwilling to follow that.'**_

"Whoever your roommate is, I'll deal with it later. Right now, I want out of this mine." He said while inspecting his new weapon.

 _ **'That weapon in your hand is called the AK12. It is the latest variation from a line of powerful and legendary assault rifles as it was modernised and based on a legendary weapon called the AK 47 that is still in use in the world and dimension that I obtained this weapon from.'**_

'That's nice… How do I use it?'

 ** _'You should be receiving instructions… now.'_**

Just then Naruto suddenly had an influx of instructions on how to use the rifle. It showed him how to operate it efficiently and effectively as well as how to maintain it.

 ** _'Everything that is factory fresh must come with it's own instruction manual. Fortunately for you, you don't have to sit and read through the tediously long manual as I can just download it directly into your mind and you can learn it instantly.'_**

'That… feels like cheating?'

 ** _'Not really… all shinobi are cheaters. Have you forgotten about that benefit that the shadow clones have that feed back memories from the clone to the user and also can be used for training purposes?'_**

'Oh yeah?... How did you know that?'

 ** _'I… have my ways.'_** She said proudly and gave out a nervous cough.

Naruto was about to question her about it, but could hear shouting further into the mines and into the gas catacombs.

'We'll talk later.' He said mentally and Prometheus agreed. He also inspected his own respirator and found that it was working fine and had plenty of oxygen in the canister. He also inspected his rifle. As new and impressive as it was, he couldn't use it on the twelfth floor for a specific reason.

'If I use this rifle anywhere near the gas tunnels then I may end up causing a chain reaction of gas explosions… Although…' he came up with a cunning plan as he smirked behind his respirator.

* * *

A group of 16 miners were running towards the location where there comrades had disappeared following what seemed like a large scale confrontation with an unknown force. They believed that it was the shinobi that were attacking or Karasu's Cerberus Division. They were all wearing their gas masks that were issued for them to work down in the dangerous parts of the mine where it was filled with explosive gas. They were all armed with rifles, but the leader of the group told them not to fire the guns near the areas where gas pockets would be located or else they could potentially set off a chain reaction of gas explosions and fill the tunnels with a raging fire that would burn everything in its path, just like they had seen it happen several times before.

They quickly made their way towards a boarded up tunnel that was closed off due to an area that had an unstable support and made the tunnel prone to collapsing. They were just about to approach it when suddenly the planks of boarded up wood were suddenly smashed through by a thrust with the top of a sledge hammer and a hooded figure just walked through, breaking through the broken and remaining planks of wood, sending dust and splinters everywhere. He walked towards the 16 miners, before coming to a stop standing in front of them defiantly and blocked their path with him leaning on the sledgehammer on his right shoulder and his rifle in his left hand.

The miners instantly knew who he was and they growled aggressively and hatefully, but Naruto didn't flinch. Suddenly, one of the miners had lost his patience with the punk kid in front of him and lifted up his shotgun and pointed it at Naruto. The leader quickly grabbed a hold of his weapon by the barrel and pushed it down. "Don't! You fire that weapon and you will be burning us all alive! Use your Melee weapons instead."

"Good idea…" he said with a malicious chuckle as he withdrew his slightly rusted combat knife. "That way I can enjoy hurting you more. It is so much more satisfying to see you suffer that way then just ending it too quickly with a gun."

"Then you are going to love this." Naruto responded by shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out a zippo lighter with an engraving of an eagle swooping down to catch its prey that was the snake.

"Whoa! whoa! whoa!? What the hell are you doing!?" a miner cried out.

"Need a light?" Naruto replied flippantly as he flicked off the lid of his lighter.

"You'll kill us all if you ignite that lighter!"

"Actually… I'm just outside of the range. I may get singed slightly, but otherwise I'll be fine. You on the other hand…" ***Kachinck!*** Naruto lit up the lighter and held the light lip up to his face slightly. "Are just within range." He said before throwing the lighter into the gas before moving backwards enough to avoid the explosion.

The lick of flame from the lighter soon kissed the fumes of explosive gas. The reaction from the contact that was made with the ignited flammable liquid and the highly flammable explosive gas was instantaneous and the ignition was violent and explosive. The miners in front of Naruto could not get away as they were all enveloped in flames and were all sent flying towards the walls, ceiling and the ground. Their poor equipment could not do anything to protect them against the flames as they had all been set on fire and they were being burnt alive, screaming as they were running everywhere in a state of mass hysteria. It wasn't just this place, but the large majority of floor twelve was currently facing the same problem a soon as the fiery explosion passed through most of the tunnels.

The leading miner was crawling along the floor and was covered in severe burns and was still on fire from head to toe. He reached into his holster and reached for his revolver and pointed it at the perpetrator. He smirked maliciously and victoriously. "Go to hell… you …demon!" he was about to pull the trigger until the revolver exploded in his hands and blew his hand clean off with it. The leader of the group screamed in agonising pain as he held onto the bloody stump of his wrist where his right hand used to be. What had happened was that the heat from the exploding gas and the flames had caused the bullets to explode from the heat.

He was then kicked onto his back and a foot that wore thick heavy duty boots slammed onto his chest, pinning him down onto the floor. The miner glared up at Naruto while also staring down into the barrel of his AK rifle that was exclusive only to him.

"So what then…you just gonna shoot me?...What point will that make?"

"Nothing... because you are worth nothing to me or anyone else… We're both forsaken men in this cruel world and both of us have toiled and suffered down here in these mines."

"Suffered!?... What the hell do you know about suffering!? You know nothing!" he roared at him until the cold metal of the gun barrel was pressed firmly onto his forehead.

"And you don't know anything about me! Who the hell are you to accuse me about what suffering is?" he asked through gritted teeth as that comment had aggravated him.

"…."

"Exactly…you know nothing about me…You all just jumped on the hatred bandwagon and went on the joyride without knowing what I was doing, who I was and where I was previously. Yes, I am well aware of my actions regarding Karasu, but I made my choice to divert most of her attention away from you lot!"

The miner blinked and finally understood. "You mean...?"

"Yes fucktard!... I was trying to save lives without her slaughtering the whole mining population, which would therefore decrease productivity in the the mine and then increase the workload for those still alive, because too many miners had died from one of her tension episodes after she goes on a killing spree." He explained in frustration.

"Oh… oh shit… i-i-I didn't know… lo-look I'm sure we coul-..."

*Click!* Naruto's rifle was now fully loaded and ready to fire.

"Wha-!... What are you doing!?"

"I want answers." Naruto answered sternly. "Where is Kaname?"

"He… he went up to the ground floor to assault the tower…but I think it went wrong and…Karasu knew he was coming and has turned the tables."

Naruto snorted. "Of course she would. You idiots took her way too lightly. Karasu is one of, if not the best soldier in the empire's military… Although, I have wondered why she is still a colonel when she is so much better than that? Not to mention she's really strong too, it's really impressive."

"Wh-why the fuck are you praising her! She's evil!"

"Because she was right…I shouldn't have trusted anyone down here. You all accused me of being a demon when I did no wrong against you, just like my village… Everywhere I go it's just the same damn thing, demon this, demon that! I am accused of being something that I am not…just what the hell am I too you people! I AM A HUMAN BEING! At least Karasu treated me like a proper human being and she knows kindness unlike you... she is not the monster you believe her to be. She may have a dark side to her, but there is goodness in her! She even brought me gifts while I have never felt the emotion of when you receive gifts from a precious person before..." Naruto dipped his head down as he reminisced all the times that Karasu acted out of kindness for him after her special torture sessions and brought him gifts. She was even there to talk to him when he was feeling down. He felt something warm in his chest when he began to think about Karasu and that beautiful smile on her face when she was not wearing her respirator. Although she still looks cute even with the mask on because of her eye smile.

The miner scowled with an ugly, malicious and furious look "You know what… I take back my apology… You are a demon… Why don't you warm her bed while you are at it in hell HUH!"

Naruto's face darkened and lowered his gun. The miner's face dropped a bit and thought that he had hurt him and was about to say something until…

*Bang!*

"Gaaaaaagh!" he screamed in even more pain and was gasping erratically as he was shot in his shoulder.

"You know what… If you want a demon… You've got one. After all, this is an empire full of them isn't it? My old village and it's people had thrown me away because they acted on their hatred and fear and threw me into a place that was fit for demons to rule…. Rule?...Yes… Yes, I think I might consider that role. Therefore, I must dethrone the monster and the puppet that rules this corrupt Empire and replace it with my own nation. One out of necessity, not because of blind people wanting things to return to how they once were, only for another lesser or greater evil taking the reigns of ruling this already doomed empire."

"Y-you've lost your damn mind... You really are a …"

"Oh would you make up your mind already!... You never accepted me as a human and you now can't accept me being a demon… What the hell am I to you!?"

"You… are a freak!"

"… You know what?"

*Bang!*

"AAAHHHHH!" and he was shot in his other shoulder.

"… I can accept that." Naruto gritted his teeth together and clenched on tightly as he began hissing through his teeth and his eyes were lit up more brightly through his goggles. "Here's the thing? Why are there so many people like you running about in this world? Why are governments always run by evil and corrupt people who are also liars and oppressive puppet masters? Where are the good and honest people in this world?... Do you know what I think?... It's because guys like you drove them all out. Here is a question that you really should be asking… Am I the real demon? Or have you not been looking in the mirror recently?... Because to me…I think you somehow have the definition of the word mistaken."

"You… bastard!"

"Urusai!...You brought this upon yourself! You followed a man like Kaname who led all of you to your own doom! It was your own fault that you followed him when deep down I knew he was a liar and a coward that was only doing this for his own gain not the revolutionaries. You should've known better than to trust someone who just appeared all of a sudden speaking of promises and boasts that he has not proven."

The miner gritted his teeth together at the mention of that bastard leader of his.

" **You people make me sick! I despise this fucking place!…I reject being the same species as you if all I see in humanity are people like you!"** he roared into his face and he soon pulled the trigger and took off his head with the round of the AK rifle.

Naruto froze on the spot… He had just taken his first life! Officially anyway, considering that before he was not conscious and was being remotely controlled from his mindscape by Prometheus. He looked around and saw that all of the other miners had all passed away from their horrific burns. He could even hear the screams of the miners in the distant tunnels that soon went silent.

Naruto fell into silence. He did not know what to think as he just stared in shock.

Prometheus however was delighted. _**'Well done…you have proven yourself to me…heck.. You even impressed her… Although she won't admit it.'**_

"But…I..." he tried to form up the words, but Prometheus stopped him.

 ** _'Enough moping! You did what you had to do…This was inevitable. Even if you were going to be trained as a ninja, you would still have been required to take a life in order to protect another or yourself… or even exterminating monsters like him. You know he was…You can feel it can't you? Her gift to you is not just unlimited power and accelerated healing, but she has made you see what is inside people's hearts and minds. You were only wasting your time and effort in showing these ungrateful miners kindness. You know what they are… you have felt it. It's like a black soul choir in this rotten decrepit mine and Kaname is the conductor._**

 ** _Now you said so yourself, you are going through with your promise, right?'_**

"…Yeah..." Naruto nodded and walked off further into the tunnels and went to find the elevator. "This is nothing…I have been through worse and I always came back from it."

 _ **"Good… Now get out there and fight for your freedom."**_

"Already planning to." Naruto said in firm resolution while holding the rifle close to his side. He lifted up his hands, performed a single hand seal and chanted out "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Seven copies of Naruto were suddenly spawned out of the thick and heavy smoke that came from nowhere, armed with nothing but the thick and heavy duty apparel on their backs. Naruto resolved this matter by using the power Prometheus granted to him and spawned several weapons that appeared in his mind and the clones too were supplied with weapons not seen before that were of great designs in their own right.

"Even if I have to go to war…!" Naruto's red lensed goggles glimmered sharply in the light.

 **(End)**

 **(Omake)**

 **An evening with Nicolas**

Nicolas could be seen sitting at a table in his own quarters eating a juicy medium rare sirloin steak and he was having a pleasent evening and savouring the steak in his mouth.

"MMM!" he groaned in satisfaction with the meat in his mouth **(-.-...Yes i know how it sounds)** "The chefs have really outdone themselves today." he nodded at the quality and taste of the steak that the chefs have prepared for him. he was enjoying his meal so much, until...

*Bang!* "Nicolas!" Karasu burst into the room like it was somebody's birthday.

Nicolas almost choked on the meat and coughed it straight out of his mouth in suprise "Huh! What!?" he spun around on his chair feeling alarmed as if an enemy were attacking the mine.

"I finally have it!"

"Have what?"

"The Teigu Shamballa!"

Nicolas looked at her funny with a quirked eyebrow. "Why do you want this Teigu so badly when you have your own?"

"Becasue... i believe this Teigu can teleport me through dimensions."

"And?"

"So iwant ot see what NAruto's life was like?"

"I thought you would need some kind time travelling device for that?"

"No...I think if i search hard enough can find a parallel dimension or multiverse where he is still in the village where he is from. that way i can learn more about him."

"Erm...i don't think this will work."

"I know...which is why yuo will be testing this out."

"n-nani?...but...where did you get this by the way?"

"I borrowed it off somewone after he refused to let me borrow it and i just took it off him right after punshing him for outright refusing me and insulting my wishes." she eye smiled innocently.

"But i'm not a Teigu user."

"You might be one...if not...hold it lon enough for me to get a good look."

"Eh!"

(10 minutes later)

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!" he was despertaly holding onto the portal as the Teigu was starting to reject him "Huuuurrrrry UUUUPP!" he wheezed through his teeth.

just then Karasu burst through the portal in tears. "NOOOOOO!" she wailed and dived onto his sofa and sobbed into the cushions.

"I refuse to believe that was my Naru-kun!...so much orange!...so short!...so dumb and naive!...and he's the bitch to this pink haired slut with nothing on her chest that wants to rut with this wimpy ass emo kid that has this horrific hairstyle that looks as if he based it off a ducks ass and is always spouting out shit like revenge this revenge that holier than thou kind of attitude that pisses me the fuck off!" she cried and beat her fists onto the cushioned armrests of the sofa.

"Did you learn anything of the village?"

"It's even worse that he does not realise what the village is doing to him and keeping from him!"

Nicolas got curious and decided to stuck his head through the portal. once his head appeared through the portal on the other side, he saw that the village had looked as if the second coming of the Kyuubi had wreaked havoc through the village as every where he saw were corpses and buildings ravaged with explosions and fire.

he stuck his head back in and sweat dropped at her extreme measures after she just entred the world that was labelledd as the canon world.

just then 14 year old Naruto walked in and entered the room. "Is everything alright? i heard Karasu crying...she's not hurt or upset or anything is she?" he asked in concern.

Karasu looked up from the arm rest and her eyes were pooling with happy tears. "Naru-kun!" she dived straight for her beloved Naruto and slammed his face into her bountiful chest. "Don't ever change!" she cried into his head as she was rubbing her soft cheeks into his wild sun kissed blond hair as he only looked at her with a quirked eyebrow.

Nicolas just left the room "I'll just...be returning this then" he sighed as his superior officer has officially ruined his evening with her antics.


	3. Chapter 3: Ascension

**Sorry for the wait, there were some issues that caused this chapter to be late and some last minute revisions and planning.**

 **Here you go and enjoy, because things are about to escalate from here.**

 **Ascension**

 **( Theme song for this chapter is... Tool: Schism)**

* * *

Everywhere within the 12th floor, the gas catacombs were filled with the charred remains of the rebel miners. Not many were prepared when the tunnels suddenly ignited and the raging fires roared and ravaged throughout the majority of the 12th floor. The majority of the miners that were on said floor were unaware of their impending doom, but the more experienced miners could tell it was coming from a mile away.

Some miners made it to the trenches or the shelters built into the walls to protect themselves from the flames once the fire of the ignited gas had passed. Once it had ended, all that was left was a trail of smouldering and burnt corpses. While there were some miners that were still alive, they were thrashing around desperately trying to put out the flames. They ran into everything until they collapsed on the floor from waving their limbs all over the place while their bodies were being slowly incinerated from the flames. Their clothing was not entirely fireproof, as the quality of their apparel was in questionable condition, but most weren't lucky enough to purchase a good pair of fireproof clothing as the good quality kind costs more of the exclusive credits than just purchasing several pairs of cheaper standard clothing that would protect the miners from a simple lick of flame or keep them warm from the cold breeze of the cold mountain winds that often came from drafts in the mountain or if they were to accidentally land in a small campfire which at best could give them a small red burn on their backsides.

In the end, their fireproof apparel didn't work how they wanted it to and most were consumed in the flames. Those who survived were smart enough to remember to keep their heads low, covered and planted into the ground or found a trench or a hole deep enough to hide in.

However, the miners realised that once the gas had passed, it would take about a whole day for the gas to return and refill the 12th floor again. So in that time period, they were once again free to use their weapons, especially their firearms.

One rebel miner cautiously peaked his head out of the trench that he had occupied and called out to any of his comrades that may have survived. "Hey! Is anyone ok!?"

"Yeah! But I've got two guys right next to me with serious burns! One guy's passed out from shock because the flames took his right arm and it melted off!"

"I'm the only one alive in my trench! The rest were unaware of the dangers of the twelfth floor!"

"Well no shit! Who's idea was it to send down these rookie miners from the upper floors who have no prior knowledge of how this floor functions!?"

"Our so called leader Kaname was the one to make the decision. He should've known about the dangers of this floor, but then again he hasn't been in this mine for very long and he has not travelled this far down in the mine either."

Several miners came out of their hiding places that protected them from the flames that raged through the tunnels. Some of them were still feeling the shock of being near the flames and the shockwaves of the gas explosion. Some of the miners couldn't stop their shaking as the adrenaline was still pumping through their veins.

If their dead comrades weren't enough, the fire that ravaged through the tunnels also destroyed most of their of the lights that were made specially for these tunnels. All of the electrical lights that were connected through a power source located near the elevator, had cut out as the flames had managed to burn through some of the lights connected to the ceiling and the power generator died because of it.

Once the gas has been ignited and passed, they used an emergency light source in the form of flares in case of emergencies because an experienced miner should have one just in case and can be used for emergency lighting as an alternative light source if they couldn't locate any spare torches, lanterns or flashlights nearby. The flares can be really bright in enclosed areas and they do produce a lot of heat and smoke.

One miner happened to have his own flares stored inside of his coat. He pulled out the red tube out of his pocket and took the lid off and tried to strike it.

"Whoa man what are you doing!?" A miner called out to him in a fit of panic.

"Relax… the gas has already been ignited and there won't be anymore gas in the chamber for a whole day at least. So it's fine. I just need this to see." The miner with the flare reassured his fellow miner.

However, the miner was having problems with his arms as his hands weren't stable enough to properly ignite the flare due to the adrenaline that was making his arm shake all over the place. He struck the tip, but the grip he had on the flare was flimsy and the lid dropped out of his hands. "Ahh….Shit!" he cursed and went on his knees to find the flare he dropped.

After a few moments of searching the floor in the pitch blackness, he eventually found a familiar object that he grabbed onto and pulled at it until it shifted slightly. The miner frowned and felt the shape and size of the object he had grabbed onto. What it felt like to him was not a red tube like design, but more of a wider size and a leather feel with a hard tip on the end. He then reached a little bit higher to feel someone's leg… He then realized that he was holding onto someone's boot and leg.

"Oh er… s-sorry about that mate… H-Have you seen my flare around by any chance?"

Suddenly, the flare ignited in front of him with the burning light assaulting his vision and the flare was being held up high above his head in the hands of the pariah of the mines… "The Lone Miner" or the ever more derogative title "The Demon Governess's Toy/ Bitch"… and that miner was Naruto Uzumaki. The one person they had thought and believed to have been killed off earlier, or so they had hoped.

The red burning light shone across Naruto's face menacingly as the red tinted goggles were also reflecting off of an equally menacing glint from the red and white burning flare. The nearby miners were equally shocked as they stood in still in horror and fear and the one miner who was currently in a very vulnerable spot in front of Naruto had his eyes wide open in shock and fear while also covering them to protect them from the harsh light.

Naruto grabbed the miner by the back of the head, ripped off the gas mask and slammed the tip of the burning flare into his forehead causing the miner to scream loudly with his mouth wide open. Both of his hands were trying to pull his hand away from his forehead. Naruto ignored the man's desperate attempts and then proceeded to shove the flare into his mouth and rammed it into the back of the man's throat, causing the inside of the man's face to light up like a jack o'lantern from the flare burning at 1,600 °C (2,900 °F). The man thrashed around clawing at Naruto's arms in a desperate attempt to push him off and released his steel like grip that held onto the back of his head like a vice. After a few moments of constant and violent thrashing and gargled screaming, the miner suddenly fell limp as his face caught fire and was exuding a lot of smoke from his mouth and nose.

Finally, Naruto let him go, along with the flare that was still jammed in his mouth with the tip of the flare still burning and searing into the back of the throat that burned its way to the spinal cord, searing through the nerves of the spine.

The surrounding miners stood and looked on with shocked, fearful and outraged expressions on their faces. "Y-Y-You d-demon!" one miner stuttered out in rage and disbelief of the re-emergence and survival of the mine's most hated miner. Here he was, somehow cheated death and was now offending them with his appearance. The miners all reacted from the single enraged roar of the one miner and they all brought out their weapons, ranging from guns, clubs, blades or hammers. Then they all aimed at and charged at the lone miner.

Naruto responded by raising his own weapon in the form of a popular weapon from a certain dimension called Earth that was called the AK12. He stepped back into the shadows and the miners all screamed out their battle cries and pressed hard down on their triggers. The tunnel in front of them was sprayed and being flooded in a hail of gunfire.

When they stopped to look for any signs of a dead body, they noticed a silhouette of a person who suddenly collapsed and was bleeding out profusely from several bullet wounds riddling his body. Once they reached the dead body, they turned him over onto his back. To their shock and horror, they realised that they had gunned down one of their own.

"Leo!? But how!?... He was right h- Kuh!" he was suddenly cut off with a machete slicing through his neck as he was about to point out to every miner in the tunnel that his friend was standing right next to him. Only to find that he had been replaced by a Kawarimi no Jutsu ( **Substitution technique** ). Naruto removed the miner's head by sinking the blade further and separated it from his neck and raised his rifle, pouring nearly a whole magazine worth of rounds containing 7.62×39mm full metal jacket rounds into the backs of several miners.

Naruto then turned around and threw his machete at another miner that tried to level his pistol at Naruto's head and blow his brains out, only to fail miserably as the tip of the machete met the centre of his collar bone. He collapsed lifelessly onto the dusty and dirty floor with the blade still embedded in his upper torso.

As soon as the final body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground, the tunnel went silent with the echoes of shouting, gunfire and fighting that was taking place throughout the twelfth floor. He could also hear rumblings of explosions that could be felt from the vibrations through the rocks on the upper floors and the dust which fell from the ceiling and the support beams.

Another explosion was heard from above him and this was one was the biggest that he had heard yet. Naruto looked up at a support beam and noticed that there were cracks forming and they were digging in deeper. Naruto shook his head and bit his lip in discomfort at the situation he was now in.

"Not good, I need to get out of here fast before they end up turning this mine into a fucking tomb." He said to himself before making his way further into the tunnel towards the elevators that lead upwards. He ignored the dead bodies along the way that was caused by him or his clones that were elsewhere also wreaking havoc on the miners.

' _You seem rather calm about all this?'_ Prometheus asked of him curiously. _'You're actually handling this quite well. Have you done something like this before?'_

Naruto remained silent for a brief moment before answering "… it's… complicated… I lived in a place where they raise children as young as six to fight and die for their village. Most of them will not face their first kill when they reach twelve or thirteen years old. Before then, they believe that working as a ninja is like something out of a fairy tale. Only when they actually experience combat first hand do they realise that the truth behind this world is full of darkness that they were not ready to face. I faced and realised my darkness that had haunted and plagued me for as long as I could remember, way back when I was in that damn orphanage before I was six years old. I took my first kill at that age too and that also happens to be the age when children can be enrolled into the ninja academy.'

 _'The world is full of darkness Naruto-Sama, but the universe is full of worse entities that will make you hope and pray that they ignore this world. People with darkness corrupting the inside of their hearts, or hostile grudges infecting their minds are nothing new to me. I would love to hear more about this, but you've got to get going._ '

Naruto nodded his head and made a run for the elevators.

* * *

(Naruto's Mindscape)

In the Mindscape, Prometheus was watching through the monitor screen of a live recording on what was happening outside of her master's consciousness. She looked on with intrigue at what Naruto was seeing.

Just then, the shroud of red chakra returned again and reformed itself into the form of the Kyuubi in her female human form… and she did not look happy.

 _"Oh?... Well hello again Kyuu-chan! I thought you went back down to your cage to hibernate like you always do_."she spoke cheerfully, but the Kyuubi in human form was the counter opposite of cheerful, she was fuming.

" **I was originally planning to do that, but something came to my attention… Where is my body?** " The Kyuubi demanded with a scowl on her face.

" _Hm? What'd you mean?_ " Prometheus tilted her head innocently.

" **Don't play dumb with me Prometheus! I know it was you! You gave me the ability to shapeshift into this monkey form, because I only agreed to help you to convince my host to grow a pair! Now I can't find my body within the seal! Where is it!?"** She demanded.

" _You're in it_." Prometheus replied.

" **Nani?** "

" _I mean that you are currently in your body right now. I did this when you released a small amount of your own chakra for me to form a body and for you to transfer your own consciousness into something like a shadow clone. Only that over time when you were outside of your own cage I transferred the rest of your fox form and chakra into your human female body."_ she explained in a nonchalant way.

Silence had loomed over in the control room and a rising KI pressure of could be felt throughout the room.

" **Why… did you do that?** " she asked tensely

" _Because I don't want a gigantic fox with nine swishing tails that can destroy fucking mountains anywhere near my city._ " She pointed her thumb outside of the window.

" **City?** " Kyuubi raised an eyebrow and looked outside of the window obviously huge window that displayed the large cityscape and the industrial areas as fars the eye can see. She immediately face faulted as her mouth opened wide and her eyes now shadowed as she stared out of the window to see gigantic buildings that were bigger than the fox was in it's primary form and were tall enough to pierce the sky.

" **What the hell is all this!**?" Kyuubi indignantly roared and pointed out the window in fury.

" _Like it? It's most definitely impressive and better to look at than the depressing cesspool or sewer that you were living in right?_ "

" **I don't like it!... I am the biggest thing in the entire world! I should be looking down on the world from where I stand, not up!"** she growled and complained like she was throwing a tantrum adding to her stamping on the floor like a petulant child and a shroud of red chakra started to form around her and her whisker marks darkened and her eyes glowed menacingly.

" _Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't you da-..."_

" **Bijuudama!** " The Kyuubi screamed out her infamous attack exclusive to all tailed beasts and jinchuriki's (If they can do it) as she charged up a sphere of highly condensed biju chakra and shot it from out of her mouth.

The entire building they were standing in exploded and collapsed as a Bijudama was shot out of it and hit one of the nearby skyscrapers creating a gaping hole in it. It then toppled over and crushed several other buildings with it.

* * *

 **(With Naruto)**

"Ow!" Naruto flinched as he suddenly felt a sharp painful headache forming within his head, but shrugged it off. "Must be the stress getting to me."

* * *

(5th floor)

Karasu was making her way further into the mines of the 5th floor unopposed, as every miner either brave or foolish enough to try and stop her were swatted away, crushed, cut apart or gunned down by her. One miner slammed into a wall after he had been kicked about 12 meters away from where she stood and reached the end of the tunnel that split off into a T-path. One miner tried to turn the corner, but was quickly taken down by a blur and a crack from her whip, bisecting him.

Karasu revealed herself from the shadows of the tunnel and turned the corner still dressed in her garb without her coat, showing off her defined and well-trained arms, which were covered in her enemies blood, as well as the mines natural dirtiness of dust and soot. She wiped her forehead to check if she had broken a sweat. She wasn't tired or exhausted, but in these parts of the mine, it did get really hot if you were to hang around various machines that produce a lot of heat. She noticed that she had a few sweat droplets pooling on her forehead due to the heat. She held onto a few strands of her hair and noticed that her natural, platinum blonde hair had been sullied by the foul wretchedness of the mine and the blood of those disgusting criminal miners. She growled to herself and sighed in frustration and disgust.

"I hate this place! I can't wait to be rid of it!"She clicked her tongue to herself in disgust before she looked around and saw that there were lot of bodies lying about in various places.

"Hmm? Somebody's been busy? I haven't been through here yet." Karasu observed, before shrugging and pressed on. She then came across a sight that made her raise an eyebrow at the spectacle she was seeing. She saw her own men and even Nicolas's guards were having a standoff with each other.

"What the hell is going on here?" she looked at every person with curious intent and a gaze that demanded to know what had gotten into them.

"C-Colonel!" one of the guards spluttered out and saluted in haste.

"Yes, me… now explain?" she said while rolling her eyes.

"Matte! How do we know that you are the real Governess!?" one of her special forces called out at her as if he was challenging her.

"Excuse me?" she glared dangerously at the one who dared to question her identity and defy her authority.

"How do we know that you are the real Kara-" ***Wham!*** he was interrupted by a fast punch that appeared as a blur from the speed it was going at to the face that knocked the guard out cold. To the surprise of everyone present, the guard was enveloped by a cloud of smoke and in his place was the form of a ROOT Anbu with a shattered mask burying itself into his face.

"Everyone convinced?" she glared at every one of them and they all nodded their head vigorously. "Good!" she eye smiled. "Every person in my SF unit that I have trained personally should know me personally and how I act. Unfortunately, he imitated the wrong person to attempt that lame ass trick on, because i sure as hell don't recognise him being recruited into my unit."

"S-sorry about that mam, it's just that we're all on edge." One of her own men in the Cerberus unit walked up to her.

"Why's that?"

"We just had reports of our own men turning against each other and it just happened to us. We then heard reports of those shinobi mimicking us by turning into our own comrades by planting seeds of discord against each other and then stabbing us in the back when we look the other way. We don't know who is friend or foe."

"I see… okay, everyone line up! Single file line, now!" she shouted out her orders.

"Err mam... we are in the middle of a warzone..."

"No excuses soldier! Now unless you want to prove that you are you, get in the fucking line!" she ordered and the soldier flinched at the tone and did as he was ordered. Soon a row of 15 soldiers were lined up against a wall with their backs straightened, arms facing down and heads looking forward.

"Now I am either going to ask you all a few questions or ask you to follow a certain command I tell you to, Okay?" they all nodded.

"Everyone stick out your tongues." She ordered. The looks on the soldiers faces was of confusion, while there was one on the far left of the line of soldiers who noticeably tensed ever so slightly that the other soldiers failed to notice in his shift in behaviour... well, everyone that is except for Karasu.

"Keep your hands placed on your laps and stick out your bloody tongues, now!" she ordered with her tone louder and more demanding. The soldier all pulled down their masks and complied with the order and they all stuck out their tongues, all apart from one.

Karasu walked in front of that one soldier who was refusing to stick out his tongue. "Stick your tongue out now Private! Don't make me rip it out of there!" she ordered harshly to the soldier who appeared to be reluctant in following the order. What most people didn't know was this was the second rat in the pack that had the leader right where he wanted her. He secretly had a senbon needle hidden in his mouth that was laced with a deadly venom/toxin. The venom was so deadly that once it got into someones bloodstream, even if its a single drop and no matter how deep the cut is on their skin, that person will die in less than 10 seconds. His life was already on the edge of danger because of the sharpness of both ends of the senbon were pressed dangerously close to his throat and lips.

Once Karasu was within range, he took the chance and began to draw a bit of futon chakra into his mouth, preparing to blast the senbon out of his mouth, like a miniature senbon launcher.

However…

 ***Wham!***

Karasu had predicted his actions easier than predicting a newbie at chess and was already 5 steps ahead of her opponent, after spotting the outline and movements of his tongue moving from underneath his jaw. The small movements of the muscular organ was a dead giveaway. In addition, she got all the information she needed from Kei's mind about all of the skills and dirty tricks these shinobi shadow operatives had up their sleeves, or mouths in this case. All thanks to Mr Townsend.

What Karasu did to prevent him from spitting out the venom laced senbon was thrusting up her right palm and slamming it from underneath his jaw and chin. The force from the impact made him recoil back, causing him to bite through the sharp senbon which resulted in it cracking a few front teeth, making his teeth bleed through the gums along with the tip piercing his lower lip. Then he accidentally swallowed the other end of the sharp pointy senbon, which also pierced into the back of his throat. He started choking on the sharp piece of metal as he coughed up his own blood slightly and stared at the ground in a moment of what appeared to be shock and horror, or the ROOT equivalent of it.

A second after he realised what had happened, he turned back into his original form of a black cloaked Root Anbu. He flicked out a kunai from his sleeve and in one last desperate attempt he tried to sink his blade into Karasu's neck, only to get deflect with her own combat knife that she whipped out in an instant and pushed him back. After a brief moment of being pushed back, he recovered and re-engaged his opponent by thrusting the tip of the kunai that was now aimed for her forehead.

Karasu then decided to crush his hopes (if he even knew what that word meant) by catching the kunai in between her middle and index fingers and then used her other hand to firmly grab onto his hand in a vice like grip that threatened to break. She then started bending it backwards and was now on the verge of snapping it like a twig.

Normally, in a moment like this one, she would've forced him to stab himself with his own kunai. However, there was no point in that now, as he was on the verge of dying. He had now devolved into coughing fits which caused him to cough out a lot of blood mixed with froth that had begun to pool out of his mouth. His body then began to twitch erratically and his eyes had now rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed onto the ground.

The soldiers and Karasu surrounded the body and looked on as the shinobi was no longer in control of his body and his speech was slurred and sounded like he was almost drowning. He carried on for a few more seconds, until finally he stopped moving. The poison had rendered him brain dead.

"That venom can't be legal..." a guard said as he felt a bit pale when he saw the effects on the shinobi operative.

"You'd be surprised… this sort of thing does not surprise me. Biological and chemical weapons are as much a part of warfare as guns and blades are. People say it's inhumane… Well then, what are bullets and knives to you? It does not matter what you use as a weapon, as long as it does its job… and that is to kill the enemy. This is just something that people wish to criminalise, as they see this as a worse way to die than a bullet to the back of the head or a knife slitting your throat is." Karasu explained nonchalantly as she made her way to a tunnel that led to a stairwell that the second platoon was told to guard in case if any miners were to attack this floor or if they were to retreat to the floor below.

She soon arrived to the doors that led to the stairwell that was only accessible in case if there were any cave-ins and could only go down or up 1 floor. Almost every floor had this design setup. She arrived only to see that there had clearly been a struggle that had happened earlier. Several guards were on the ground either bleeding out from stab wounds to vital parts of the body or had their limbs or chunks of their torso's blown off. She saw her own special forces, or what was left of the second platoon, guarding the stairwell along with the guards.

She approached them with a frown on her face as she knew that things had not gone well, and it was about to turn more troublesome. "Report!" she ordered to the sergeant in charge of the area.

"We were ambushed by several shinobi that just came out of nowhere. Whatever they used, it was highly explosive. From what we could tell, they used some sort of… paper explosive or some shit like that." the sergeant turned his head to look at his men who were clearly suffering and shook his head and frowned. "That blast took out 6 of my men. After that, they burst through the smoke and we engaged them in a bloody melee… which as you can see did not go in our favour… we're not trained for these kind of engagements at close quarters against some supernatural ninjas who can spit elemental attacks at you. At best, we managed to kill them by shooting at them which was the most effective method in dealing with them, but we all can't be like you when it comes to these sorts close range fights." He explained honestly.

"I appreciate your sentiment sergeant. Don't you worry, at the end this pitiful revolt I will plan for more training and preparation for future engagements for situations like these… but that is not why I am here… have you come across the rat's leader yet?" Karasu nodded to the sergeant and asked him if he did his job.

"… erm?"

"That answer is not valid enough for me sergeant. You've spoken honestly to me before, why can't you do it again?"

"Because… he managed to slip past us... during our fight with the ninjas." He explained as he now gulped in hesitation.

Karasu pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "The slimy snake is good at running I will admit, but… I wonder who will get to him first?" she suddenly smirked.

"Erm… mam?"

"Hm?" she looked back at the Sergeant.

"Aren't you going to… you know?"

"Why, do you want to get disciplined? I'll be happy to oblige." She eye smiled and patted her whip that was in its holster affectionately.

"N-No mam!" the sergeant straightened and spluttered out in panic.

"Then don't test your luck next time. There will be others who are not as understanding and as fair as me. If you were assigned to general Budo or General Esdeath however… well, there are rarely, if not any second chances with those two. It's either you do it, or you fuck it up royal, or you die… simple as that. The weak will always be devoured by the strong, that's how Esdeath always says it… In a way she is right about that, but at the same time she isn't. What she has yet to see that I have seen and witnessed, is that not all of them are perceived to be weak. That all weak people are always devoured by the strong as she so claims. Some of the weak, if given the chance, can always grow up to become strong by themselves. If you kick them one to many times, you may never know when that supposed weak person will bite back… and once that happens, you may come to regret it." her eyes dimmed as she reminisced through her memories of a past she once toiled through and witnessing her claim in real life.

She shook her head and all the memories were sent back into her mind and she pressed on through the door. She opened it and came face to face with a miner who had a sub machine gun that looked to have been made from out of a shed with iron metal mostly used as the frame and the stock and a small tube for a barrel.

"Haah!" The miner jumped up in his spot as he was about to run through the door, only to run into the demon governess herself. Due to his hesitation and fear striking him cold on the spot, he stood their paralysed on the spot as his arms and legs locked up. A second later, he blinked and his brain screamed at him to move and shoot her. However, a single second was all it took for Karasu to engage him as she drew out her pistol and discharged a double tap right into his unprotected chest. The rounds knocked him back and the miner was now feeling really heavy as he stumbled back into the railing of the stairwell. Karasu walked up to him, ignoring the miners from below the spiral stairwell that were looking up towards her. Several of them were now pouring into the stairwell, trying to reinforce the upper floor with fresh reinforcements. She pulled the two pins from two of the four grenades attached to his coat and kicked him off the railing and watched him topple over the railing and land on the bottom floor of the stairwell where all of the rebels were pouring through.

The miner landed with a splat, followed by an explosion once he hit the floor. The explosion shredded through the miner's body like it was mincemeat along with the nearby miners in the vicinity as the power and deadliness of the grenades combined with three other grenades that had also detonated, tearing through the large group of miners that were overcrowding the stairwell. The force from the blast and the scattering of dangerous shrapnel blew off chunks of flesh and splattered gallons of blood and flailing limbs all over the walls. The force even sent the thin strips of metal shrapnel out of their bodies and were sent flying through the air, hitting more targets that were above them on the stairs by either them peering over the side of the stairs or from the shrapnel ricocheted off of the walls and into their targets.

Ignoring the screams of agony and the shouting of men bellowing out orders to open fire, Karasu walked back through the door and held out her hands. "Guns please." She requested and almost instantly a soldier answered her request as he returned with two small rectangular, compact submachine guns. The weapons were made out of stamped steel with a retracted stock, a 42 round clip magazine that was placed near the trigger guard and an extended barrel. Overall, the weapon looked cheap, defective and clunky.

"What the hell is this?" she frowned at the shoddy quality of said weapon.

"Its… the best we could find mam" the elite soldier pursed his lips as he agreed with his commander's thoughts.

Karasu gave it a critical look over. She shook her head and frowned. "It looks like it could fall apart any minute when I shoot the bloody thing… Haaah! No matter, I suppose I'll have to make do. Remind me to shoot that damn supplier from the capital next time for supplying me with this crap." She sighed in exasperation and shrugged off the dilemma at hand and went to engage the hostile miners in the stairwell.

Once she re-entered the stairwell, many rounds were pinging off of the walls as they frantically shot at the top of the stairwell's railing where they believed the enemy was located. Karasu waited for the right moment when they would end up having to reload as they foolishly wasted most of their ammo shooting at what they couldn't even see.

One moment of peace was all she needed from them. Eventually, the moment came when they stopped firing. 'Here I come' she smirked to herself and hopped onto the railing and jumped off of it. She dived off like a diver with her head facing the ground as she plummeted towards the bottom of the stairwell.

The miners were not expecting this as they were now getting showered in a hailstorm of bullets. Karasu unloaded a majority of her clip into the miners below as they were looking straight up to see her flying down straight at them with guns blazing. She killed six that were in her sights and ignored the men that she passed on the stairs. They peeked over the railings, only to foolishly get shot down by her men that had now poured into the stairwell and started taking out anyone that were on the stairs. She then flipped herself in mid-air and landed on one miner who walked right into her field of vision and was unaware of the incoming governess who landed feet first onto his face. The impact made him instantly drop down onto the floor head first and made him lose any sense of where he was or why he was staring down a into the barrel of a gun... and why had it turned so dark so suddenly?

As Karasu finished executing the miner who was underneath her boot, she focused on the rabble of miners that were pouring through the doors right in front of her. She then decided to stop the influx of rats by focusing her fire at the doors and let loose a hailstorm of automatic sub machine gun fire that blew away any opposition that opposed her. The miners that were behind the door had either scattered or were also killed like the miners that rushed into the stairwell as the rounds simply penetrated through the thin metal doors.

As Karasu killed the last miner that entered through the double doors that lead into the 6th level of the mine, both of her weapons suddenly suffered a catastrophic failure as the firing mechanisms suddenly jammed. Then without warning, one of her weapon's barrel suddenly exploded due to a bullet not having enough force to exit out of the barrel, causing it to get stuck into the barrel while the next round was discharged and hit the back of the first round, causing it to explode into shards of metal which resulted into the destruction of the barrel and the firing mechanisms. Karasu recoiled as a shard of metal flew off of the barrel of the gun and scratched her left arm.

She then threw the weapons to the ground in frustration and anger. "Goddamn pieces of shit!" she then turned her head to look up at the top few steps of the stairs where her soldiers were standing by. "Hurry up and get your asses down here men! I don't want to be the only one doing everything for you while you sit on your lazy asses with your thumbs stuck up there!" she called up to her men who obeyed the order, as they all rushed down the stairs shooting every miner that was left alive on the stairs.

She drew out her whip once again, wrapping it around her hand and walked straight to the double doors where a large group of miners were waiting on the other side. Karasu realised this and whistled up to her squad and made a few hand signals. One man understood this and passed her a smoke grenade by dropping it down the flight of stairs and into the awaiting hands of Karasu who easily caught it. She hooked her thumb into the ring of the pin and pulled it straight out and walked up to the doors.

As she was doing this, the miners were waiting in anticipation for them to come bursting through the doors any second now. They were in the perfect position to cover a spot where they could come pouring through and then they would have the perfect kill zone set up. If they cannot get through that spot then there would be nowhere to go, except for that door or the elevator which likewise will be heavily guarded. However, they didn't anticipate who they would be facing.

Karasu walked up to the double set of metal doors and raised her right foot with the steel toe capped military boot and gave it a good kick. The force behind her kick ended up with the doors snapping off of their hinges and sent them catapulting into the waiting group of enemies who did not react fast enough to dodge the incoming doors. Upon collision, they were sent cashing into the walls with their heads bleeding as the doors lay crumpled and lying on top of three miners.

While the doors were kicked off, Karasu chucked the smoke grenade towards them and the smoke gushed out of the small canister creating smokescreen that quickly filled the area with and obstructed their view of Karasu. The miners were now blinded as they could not see in front of them as the smoke quickly enveloped the area. Suddenly, they could hear something akin to a whistling sound, as if something was swishing through the air.

One of the miner's eyes widened at what that sound was, he immediately turned and pointed his rifle at the source of the sound. unfortunately, he was already too late and too slow to react as the next thing he heard was the cracking of a whip and the tip striking his forehead, blasting off half of his head in a shower of gore as the raw power of the whip was cranked up to the twenty zone.

The next miners to die were taken out by the whip wrapping around one's neck with the thorns digging into his flesh. He was then pulled along with the whip and was slammed against a wall which killed him instantly as the impact shattered the back of his skull and crumpled his spine and ribcage. The miners were in disarray and had no idea where she was in the smoke cloud.

"Okay boys, let's light em up!" came a familiar voice from within the smoke cloud. A few seconds after she gave out the call, multiple flashes could be seen within the smoke that caught them off guard. They were helpless as they could not see who was shooting them. While the gunfire was not entirely accurate, considering that they were shooting from within the smoke, Karasu's forces still predicted where they were going to be and they took out nearly the whole group of miners, while the rest just ran off deeper into the mines in fear and to alert the rest of the rebel miners that the enemy had broken through.

Karasu and her team of Cerberus special forces exited the smoke with no sign of damage on them and her team cautiously observed the area.

"Clear!" called out a soldier.

"Yes, I can see that…" she rolled her eyes before they moved towards a certain path as if she instiviely knew something or someone was was over there. "Hmm… he's nearby, not long now~" she giggled to herself.

"Where is he?" a soldier asked his CO.

"A floor below us, although he's slowed down considerably. His movements are now becoming increasingly limited as the whole mine is on the lookout for him since he just tipped the hornet's nest." She peered on the floor below her. "Although, there is one more person he should definitely look out for."

"Who?"

"The lone miner… Oh yes, the things he could do to him once he finds him."

One of the guard looked at her sceptically and scoffed, "He's not the sort of guy to resort to violence or murder… he's too soft and weak like that." said the guard before blinking as he noticed a fist coming towards his face. Suddenly, he found himself slamming against a tool shed and smashing through the dust covered door. The guard starred into space with a look of confusion until he shook his head to clear himself of the dizziness and the minor concussion as well as the swelling on his bruised face. He fearfully looked up to see a displeased and scowling Karasu.

"He, as you claim to perceive him to be, is not soft! He is a man who has faced many hardships, pain and torment the likes of which you cannot imagine in your so called carefree life. However, that cry from earlier was his message that you have kicked him one too many times and now you have created something that you should always fear and hope to never come across… and what those people fear most with their self-proclaimed sense of dominance and power is that they fear the time when they eventually get overpowered by the very same weak person they believed to have no strength to oppose them when they oppressed and tormented them. However, every person has a limit to how much they can take. Try as you might, but there will always be a trigger that can set you off." Karasu stated to him and the guard swallowed nervously and nodded his head rapidly while he frantically apologised.

"It's good that you understand your place. Do not run your mouth off in my presence again, especially if it's about people I care about." She turned around and headed down a certain tunnel to find a way down into the seventh floor. The guard just fainted after she left as the concussion became too much due to how the injury on the back of his head became too painful for him to remain conscious, causing him to faint.

"Everyone split up into groups of four! That way we can open up a quicker path to the seventh floor. In case if you run into anymore shinobi, call me, I will deal with them myself." She called out to her men and the guards.

"Yes mam!"

"Move out!" she shouted out before running down one of the tunnels that had a rail track laid out. She recognized it as the main tunnel used for transporting loads of resources gathered from the mining tunnels. This main tunnel, while the quickest was to get to the elevator, was also heavily guarded and fortified. Therefore it would be the slowest path to take. However, she gave it no thought. The sooner she flushed out the rats, the sooner she can go about her day and spend it with her favourite slave. "Hehehe! She giggled perversely at the last thought.

* * *

(12th floor)

Meanwhile, in an elevator descending down towards the twelfth floor, was a group of eight miners who were told to go investigate the twelfth floor. They were hearing reports about sounds of conflict and an explosion coming from the twelfth floor which there shouldn't be possible as the guards and the Cerberus unit were held up on the first six floors and were now coming down to the seventh. Unless it was a surprise attack from the shinobi. In case of the latter, they will have to get rid of the problem quickly before they faced the wrath of Lady Karasu, her unit and the guards of the mine.

The miners jerked to a halt and they were now officially at the bottom floor of the mine. Once they opened the gate to the elevator, they were given a shocking surprise to see an absolute massacre right in front of them, as all they could see in the large open area was a room full of bodies that were all killed in some sort of firefight as they saw that the weapons used were a mix of blades, guns and explosives of some sort.

Then, they heard a spluttering cough in front of them and they noticed that one of the miners was alive, although barely. They saw him on his back twitching and shaking and they could just make out his erratic breathing.

One of the miners of the group that was huddled up in the elevator decided to be brave and stepped out of the elevator and cautiously approached the body. He felt a bit of bile trying to rise up from his throat and his face turned green, but he swallowed it back down. He slowly approached the miner who was on the ground. He reached out to him with an open palm and touched him on the leg with a nudge.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

That one nudge had completely set him off as the miner lying on the ground, completely unaware of his presence, shot up and was instantly in his face screaming in a higher pitched terror filled scream with his face morphing to fit the expression and emotion he was feeling. The sudden reaction had also made the miners he was screaming at also scream in fright too. But what happened after that was a high pitched pinging noise that was heard from the screaming miner's chest. Immediately after he sprang up, several wires were seen falling off of the miner's chest.

* **"BOOOM!"** *

The vicious blast from the explosion focused primarily on what was in front of the miner as the explosive used was a tripwire bomb packed with sharp shards of metal shrapnel that tore through both of the miners. One of the miner's chest was blasted through and the other miner's face got blown off, making him unrecognisable and sent flying 3 meters away from where the screaming miner exploded.

The rest of the miners were in shock and one of the miners decided that he didn't want to stay any longer and tried to reach for the button panel. Before he could press a button, several bodies suddenly burst into smoke and the supposed bodies were no longer those of their own comrades, but a very alive miner that they all knew and hated… and there were several copies of him all pointing their rifles at them.

The miners were in a very desperate situation as they couldn't move anywhere. They couldn't go back up because they would be dead by the time the elevator actually moved. Also they didn't want to test out the penetration potential of those rifles that look so advanced than the usual firearms you see in the empire could not even come close to compare to them. They also couldn't get out because they would only stumble over themselves and their nearby comrades that were also stuffed into the elevator with them and would just get in the way.

However, none of this mattered to the lone miner as he and his clones just let loose a hailstorm of death into the elevator, wiping out every person crammed in there. The lone miner AKA Naruto lowered his weapon and released the magazine with the release button on the side of the rifle and pulled out the magazine to check his bullet count. The total number of bullets left in the magazine was four. Naruto nodded to himself and chucked it away. He then held out his palm and focused his mind on the image he wanted to form in his hands. A second later, a fresh AK magazine with 30 bullets of 7.62mm calibre materialised in the palm of his hand. All of them with tracers built inside them.

"This is insane." Naruto shook his head sighed to himself. "I can see why the previous users had gone mad with this sort of power in their hands. I mean who wouldn't?"

' _Well… That's precisely the problem you see. I'm all for the advancement of certain areas in civilisation that involves technology. I am more than willing to offer any assistance to help humanity reach high places, it's just in my nature. Unfortunately, all I get are incompetent fools who abuse my power for their own selfish gain and no one else's. For example, I had one master who just used my power to indulge himself with all of the exquisite items money can buy. Then he does nothing but stagnate himself and pig out on all of the food farmers can provide, indulge in the finest women in all the lands and then kidnap them from their homes so they'll never be seen again._ ' Prometheus sighed irritably to herself.

"I can… sort of relate to that in a way. In fact, I know several people who would love to have you around in their pockets."

" _You mean that council back in your village?_ "

"Ok, why and how do you know that?"

" _I know plenty about you from your tenant actually… though she is a bit… difficult._ "

"Tenant?"

" _A certain f-… What do you want now!?... No, I am not letting you out of that cage until you learn your lesson on why it is not ok to break people's things! I know it's smaller and more cramped, but I can't fit your other cage in here, so you're going to have to deal with it… Yeah, yeah love you too!_ "

"Who was that?"

" _No one important at the moment… What is important is just up ahead. Can you sense him?_ " she asked him.

Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his goggles until his head froze and suddenly his gaze snapped towards a certain direction facing upwards that was not too far up from where he was. He can feel something rather unpleasant that was aimed at him. In fact, there was a whole sea of negative emotions flaring above him. Some were aimed at him, although not as strongly as the one he was currently feeling. While the emotions were aimed towards one source who likewise was aiming at the other.

"I can feel something aimed towards me… I've always wondered what it was. I've always felt something like this, but stronger when I was little and was still in the village. It kind of helped me to escape from the more… violent villagers."

" _It is just as I've told you before… Well, she says it's a gift so you better be honored that you have something so beneficial, or something like that. It is an ability exclusive to her and… never mind. Point is you have her passive ability to sense negative emotions and desires. What you were feeling during your childhood and preteenhood was the anger, hatred and hostility from all of the villagers._ "

"So that's what it was…" His eyes lit up in realisation and his facial expression became downcast. He had come to realize that during his time in the village, there were so many negative emotions and very few that were not consumed in their own self-absorbed feelings, interests and emotions that plagued the village.

'Were they always like that? If so, then what did old man Hokage see in that village? What did all of the Hokage see in that village? What is the "will of fire"? Has it been snuffed out for years and they never realised it?' There were so many questions, that so few can be answered. But one thing completely stands out from the rest… Konoha has long since fallen from grace. He did not know how it happened, it just has and with the appropriate evidence then he will have all the proof he needs to cement that fact.

"So then… it appears that there is one person holding such strong resentment for me that stands out more than the rest." Naruto took a guess.

' _Indeed… and I think you know who it is_ '

"Kaname Shunsui." He frowned from underneath his hood and muttered out coldly. "His plan must've failed then if he is all the way down here. I also sense that he is in a state of hysteria and fear judging by how his emotions are chaotic, they are all over the place... It's almost like he is running away from something... or maybe someone?"

' _Look a little bit more upwards and to the left a bit and then you'll see why._ '

"Why, what is th-… Nevermind, I see it." he deadpanned as he felt one of the strongest killing intents throughout the entire mine. It held bloodlust, rage, hostility, hope?... and… what is that supposed to be?

He noticed an emotion that was bright pink with a rosy red tint to it "Strange... most of the more stronger emotions are aimed at Kaname, but I can feel some emotions, although faint, I can tell that some are aimed at me."

' _Somebody must be thinking of you~!_ ' Prometheus sang and teased.

Naruto didn't pick up on the meaning behind the tease and his thoughts immediately narrowed down to Karasu. "Oh! That must be Karasu. She's not too far behind him, so she might be the one to catch him first." His eyes lit up in recognition and he heard a sigh followed by some sort of smacking sound to someone's forehead.

"Am I wrong?"

' _No Naruto-Sama… you're right, just… never mind, it's not important. Although, you should cut off his escape if you want first dibs on him._ '

"Judging from his current location… I think he's trying to head to the 8th floor. If so, then I'll cut off his escape."

' _Will you kill him?'_

"…Maybe… depends on who reaches him first." He said before he and the clones stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the 8th floor and headed up towards where the king rat was hiding.

* * *

(8th floor)

The sounds of furious stampeding through the tunnels could be heard throughout the 8th floor as the rebels were told that they needed to reinforce the seventh floor as their enemies were pouring into it at such a rapid pace that it wouldn't be long until they reached the 8th floor as well.

The rebels ran past a particular row of minecarts placed right on top of a slope that led deeper into the tunnels of the mine and into the heart of the mountain. As soon as the rebels had disappeared, a head peaked out that was fully obscured by mining apparels such as a scarf, a miner's hat and goggles.

"Ok… Ok… They're gone, they're gone. Just… need to find the next set of stairs to the ninth floor and hopefully those useless degenerates will have killed each other off and I'll be able to get out of this shithole." Kaname sighed in relief and quickly got out of the cart. He then quietly made his way through a small tunnel that led him in a random direction that he did not know where it would take him. He had a couple times managed to get himself lost on a few of the other floors since the 5th floor, but somehow, he still managed to find his way down. Unfortunately for him, this time he was currently lost and his movements were limited. He could feel the killing intent from behind and above him and it was getting closer.

Although he knew that this was the least of his problems. The miners were dumb so they would never suspect him to be around the area, but he didn't want to take any chances of getting spotted. The second problem were those damned shinobi, they could be anywhere and everywhere you least expected them to be. Several hundreds of rebel miners could attest to that as they had fallen to their skill and might.

The shinobi were a massive hindrance to his escape as they sabotaged his escape routes several times before he had to turn back around and find another way to escape. Not to mention that they were fast, agile and sometimes employed underhanded tactics. The miners were no match at CQC against them one on one. However, if one were lucky enough then they could have a chance to overrun them with numbers if they were exhausted enough. Unfortunately, that only depends on how powerful they are and how long they can last.

So far, hardly anyone was successful in taking down the shinobi other than killing the weaker links in the chain of command, starting with the bottom of their "root" with a lucky shot, area suppression fire, or explosions from grenades, TNT and IEDs.

Kaname squeezed through the dark, dirty, claustrophobic tunnels and had a couple of near misses where he was almost discovered a few times before he finally reached a path with the sign pointing towards the stair case for level seven.

"What the!... I'm right back where I started!" he growled and smacked both of his hands on his face and groaned into them in a frustrated tone. "Ergh! Fucking shit!... Now where do I go from here!?... I think this way." He guessed as he was about to walk down the path, until…

Miners, four of them were seen trying to run around the corner at the end of the tunnel, but a large mine cart full of coal had cartwheeled over and crashed into them, crushing and embedding them into the wall and floor. When the dust cleared, he could make out bloody smears with the coal burying the bodies underneath.

Kaname at that moment had tried to turn around and flee, but something kept him in place as he saw that the one responsible for the flying mine cart was the Demon Governess herself. The very same person, he was trying to run away from.

Karasu appeared from around the corner and stopped by the minecart, inspecting her whip. Kaname's mind was screaming at him to move, run and never look back. He tried desperately to move and all he could muster was a shuffle of his right foot that kicked a stone.

His heart had now sunk to its lowest level as Karasu's head turned towards him. Her eyes squinting, inspecting this one miner. Kaname had hoped she wouldn't recognise him because if she did then he would suffer a fate worse than death. Although she would've just killed him instantly if he wasn't the one she was looking for, which would be preferred, but he didn't want to die.

Unfortunately for him, Karasu was no fool and she instantly recognised him as she caught sight of a few strands of his natural dark blue hair colour hanging out of his mining helmet. Her eyes glinted maliciously and her hand fiddled with the dial on her whip, as the humming of its deadly power slowly increased.

"Found you!~" she sang, but with a hint of murderous tone behind it. "Did you think that you could walk out of your punishment for what you have done to my darling?" she said while walking down the tunnel with the whip twirling and dancing in her grip. She walked with a pace indicating that someone was going to get seriously hurt, or killed. "Murder, even attempted, is strictly against the rules that I have placed. But you've gone and targeted the one miner who is very precious to me… and for that... I cannot and will never forgive you. I will make sure to enjoy every second, minute and hopefully an hour of this. So don't die too quickly from this please." She said while eye smiling him with a hint of icy cold death glinting out of them and snapping the whip by wrapping the tip around her right hand and pulling it.

Kaname shuffled backwards and he nearly tripped over himself before he regained his footing. He then shuffled backwards reaching behind his back and held his right hand out and left hand in his trouser pocket. "Stay back!... Don't make me use this!" he spoke in desperation and fear.

"Oh please…I've seen all the tricks that your so called "Army" has done. For all of your efforts, they were absolutely pitiful. So what difference are you going to make?" Karasu looked at him with indifference.

Her answer came in the form of Kaname throwing a cylindrical object in the shape of a grenade and a fuse that had been ignited and was sizzling on the top of the grenade. She saw him making a run for it into one of the open tunnels. She would've sent her whip against his back and thus impaling him, but the blast of the grenade had knocked a support pillar over and the tunnel caved in with tonnes of rubble pouring in and blocking her path towards her target.

Karasu swore to herself and her grip on her whip tightened. She immediately turned around to look for another way. "Run all you like Kaname, but I know this mine like on the back of my hand. There is nowhere left for you to run or hide. Just accept your punishment." She hissed out before she turned around and stormed off to find another way to catch her target. By the time she left the area, the walls, ceiling and the floor had begun to develop several deep cracks.

* * *

Kaname ran as fast and as hard as his legs could carry him. He ran desperately and fearfully away from the Demon Governess of the mine who was after his life and was determined to punish him. Along the way, he passed several groups of rebel miners running in the opposite direction heading towards what sounded like a fight happening in the distance, but Kaname didn't care as he just wanted to escape.

Kaname turned a sharp corner and collided with an older veteran miner who had a fuzzy beard and a worn out dirty miner's helmet on his bald head. The miner frowned at Kaname and bellowed out at him in a deep booming voice.

"Where the hell do ya think you're going!? The fight's the other way! They've broken through the stairwell leading to the seventh floor, so turn around and join your comrades ya stupid bastard!" he roared into his face until the older miner froze in recognition as Kaname's helmet had fallen off and his scarf had drifted off his chin revealing his face "Shit! You're Ka-"

 ***BANG!***

The older miner was silenced by Kaname as he pulled out a revolver and shot him in the chest, where his heart was. The miner fell lifelessly onto the cold, dust covered floor. Kaname said nothing but scowled as his position and identity had been compromised. He heard shouting and the sound of boots marching furiously towards where he was, so he retreated into a random tunnel to get away from the angry miners and possibly a vengeful Governess.

After a minute of running and avoiding contact with the miners, he came across a sign where he saw the elevator and the indicator above it was showing that that the lift was about to come up to stop at this current floor. 'Perfect!' He thought as he ran towards the elevator as it appeared behind the gates and it opened up.

However… he was in for a third nasty shock of the day. Standing there, were several copies of the same man that he had thought he had killed. His moment of running was interrupted by the shock of seeing him alive and in the flesh. He skidded to a halt as he tried to kick himself back the other way, but he ended up falling onto his back and he froze when he spotted the red glowing glint from the red lenses of their goggles as they all just stared at him. The faces were shadowed by their hoods and their mouths obscured by their scarfs. Their appearance looked threatening as they all held rifles he had never seen or heard of before. The worst part was that in his head he could hear the ghostly echoing sound of his respirator as he breathed through it slowly… the sound of it was haunting and it disturbed him greatly.

The clones all walked out of the elevator and to Kaname it felt like time had slowed down as his heart rate had accelerated and was pounding against his chest. He could feel an ominous aura of killing intent aimed directly at him.

Kaname immediately kicked himself up and immediately turned around and bolted for a tunnel to escape through. By the time he turned around, a horde of miners had finally caught up with him and they immediately saw the Lone Miner that they all despised so they set their sights on him. The opportunity was too great to pass up and he took it gratefully. He ignored the raging gunfire as the minders and Naruto were no doubt tearing into each other back there. Now all he needed to do was escape. He also ignored the agonising pain of a round slicing through the back of his left arm on the tricep muscle while he was about to run through the tunnel. Painful as that flesh wound was, he still had to carry on.

After a minute of more running, he eventually found himself at the same mine carts. Although, he felt weaker as he lost a fair amount of blood from the bullet wound.. He soon found some empty mine carts that were chained to a wall by the coupling that prevented them from rolling down the slope. He hid inside one of the carts by pulling a tarp over the one he was in that covered him so he could tend to and lick his wounds.

Unfortunately he froze on the spot inside his minecart as he heard footsteps. "Well… where are your friends now Kaname? You know, the one's you held so much belief in… right before you betrayed their trust and abandoned them to their fates so you could save your own pathetic hide?... Do you hear anyone coming?... No... There is no one here to save you, because you have tarnished the trust of the people that you could've saved if you weren't so self-absorbed and pathetic and a lying cowardly snake. There won't be anyone to stop me from killing you... I've already made my mind up earlier… People like you do not deserve a second chance, because deep down... there is no saving you from what you truly are." He said slowly and menacingly to pour more fear into Kaname's heart. "This can all end in an instant. All you have to do to stop your own torment is to show yourself. I promise to make it quick."

Kaname in that moment peeked out of the tarp and saw that Naruto's back was turned towards him. He immediately took the chance to throw the tarp off and he flew up aiming his weapon at Naruto in the back of the head. However, Naruto saw this happening as he could sense his presence using his emotion sensor ability. Naruto, in a motion of a blur to Kaname's eyes, had spun around so fast that what Kaname felt and heard next was a loud crack. He felt a huge burning pain that he could feel dig in deep within his right shoulder and blasted out the back of it in a shower of blood and bits of gore.

Kaname was launched onto his back while resting it on the inside of the empty cart. He leaned over the other side and tried to support himself with his good arm and gun arm with the revolver still in his grasp.

"So you want to make this harder on yourself? Suit yourself he said before raising his rifle towards the former leader. But suddenly, Kaname had sprung up and aimed for the chain that held the row of six mine carts. He shot the chain links and they snapped off when he shot them enough times for the mine carts to simply break away. Without the chain to hold them in place, they began to roll away and were starting to increase their speed when they was near the steep slope.

Naruto tried to shoot him, but he heard the dreaded click of his rifle and he cursed to himself for the amateur mistake.

"Where did you learn to count dumbass! HAHAHA! Come catch me now asshole!" he laughed and jeered like a maniac thinking that he had the last laugh as he rolled away. He and the mine carts that he was riding in thundered down the track and around the bend where he disappeared from his field of vision. However, Naruto didn't chase after him as he peered over to a sign post that said " **WARNING! UNSTABLE TUNNEL AHEAD. DO NOT ENTER!** "

Naruto began to sweat drop nervously. "Oh no… don't tell me that this is the place that has the- "

* **SHINK! SHINK!***

"GAAAH!" ***THWAK!*** he was then suddenly interrupted when two shuriken whizzed through the air and stabbed themselves right into the back of his kneecaps, causing him to lose his balance and then collapse onto the ground.

Before he could collapse onto the ground a pommel from a tanto blade struck hard against the back of Naruto's head. His eyes rolled up into his sockets and he closed his eyes as he fell into unconsciousness. The last thought he felt was 'how did I not sense him?... Kuso!... This happened because I was weak… even after being released from the damned chakra seal, this happens!' he thought bitterly as he collapsed on the floor by the feet of a ROOT Anbu who had successfully subdued the Kyuubi's jinchuriki and their **(supposedly)** future weapon for Konoha by binding his wrists and feet together tightly with ninja wire.

The ROOT shinobi reached for his short range radio and notified his ROOT comrades about his successful objective. "Target located and subdued. Requesting backup for extraction." He said monotonously and blandly through the radio. Suddenly, just before he took his hand of the radio around his neck, he failed to sense an incoming presence that blurred into existence. He turned around just as he felt a pistol's barrel slam into his face and dug itself into his mask.

"Nani!?" The shinobi's eyes widened behind his mask before he realized what had happened.

 ***BANG!*** the bullet passed through the front of the shinobi's face with little difficulty, but the exit wound had simply exploded out of the back of his head and showered the floor behind him in a shower of blood and gore. The man fell onto his back and into his own pool of blood that stained the floor with its gruesome crimson red color.

Standing in that very spot overlooking the now dead ROOT shinobi and the now unconscious and bound Naruto was Karasu. With her arm still raised and holding the smoking pistol. Karasu looked down at Naruto and sighed gratefully. She was happy that he was alive. She even had some tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes.

"Naruto-kun…I'm so glad you're okay… but, not like this." While she was happy, she greatly did not approve of the harm and the state he was in as he looked like he had been through hell and back. Add to the fact that he was now currently wounded, battered, incapacitated and currently unconscious.

She looked over and scowled murderously at the ROOT-nin and pointed her pistol over at him and unloaded the last four shots of her pistol until they ran dry. Once she was done, she immediately began to chastise herself.

"Ahhh…crap! Shouldn't have done that. I was saving them for the pied piper who dared to lead his rats against Me… Ah well, it was worth it." she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and eye smiled to her Naruto-kun. She then spotted something quite interesting lying next to him.

"Hm?" she looked at the weapon with curiosity and interest as it looked like something she had never seen before in terms of firearm design. The gun was lightweight, robust, possessing a unique design and was definitely intriguing.

"I don't remember ordering a weapon like this?" she said before picking it up in her hands and noticing that it fit snugly in her hand. It also weighed a lot less than those bulky and heavy guns that she normally saw the Empire use and to her… this weapon just felt right. "Hmm? Now where did you come across a weapon like this I wonder Naruto-kun?" she hummed in appreciation for such a good looking, well made, different, yet unique weapon.

She was then knocked out of her moment of admiring the weapon once she remembered that her darling slave was on the floor with two shuriken still embedded into the back of his kneecaps. "Ah! That's right! I have to get him medical attention and fast!" she said in haste and with major concern for Naruto. She pulled the shuriken out from his knees, cut the wires with her combat knife and wrapped bandages around his knees tightly from one of the spare pockets inside her utility belt pocket just in case.

"That should do it… now, up you go!" she lifted him up effortlessly onto her back in piggyback style. She would've preferred to carry him bridal style, but she needed at least one of her hands to be free just in case.

She also had her hand placed underneath his thigh muscle, which she gave a good squeeze to enjoy the feeling. "Ohh, good muscle definition" she said while admiring the feeling. "Gah! There's no time for experimenting now! I need to get him out of here!" she reprimanded herself for her perverse thoughts. Although she will admit it is rather hot when she thinks about him in certain ways.

Just as she was about to run back to the elevator, she heard a loud thunderous echo of what sounded like something exploding or crashing. She turned around and noticed the broken barriers of the sectioned off tunnel. Her eyes widened for a moment in realisation and narrowed dangerously. "Oh you have got to be fucking joking!"

* * *

 **(Moments before)**

The mine carts were racing through the tunnels at unstoppable speeds because Kaname had no way of stopping them. Now he was on a dangerous ride on a very unstable track and tunnel as he could recall the several bumps, jerks and near misses with loose rocks that stuck out near the track.

Kaname was holding on for dear life as he was rocking and rolling everywhere in his mine cart and on more than one occasion he had suffered more blows to the head with every bump or sharp turn. "When will this end?!" he shouted out in anger and pain.

Suddenly, his mine cart came within site of another sharp turn and this time it had a large support pillar that was bigger than the rest. It looked really important and he was placed directly near the curve of the track and with a sign hanging of it warning miners to go slow. However, it was too late as the mine carts were going too fast and they were already starting to lose balance on the tracks. The carts derailed themselves from the track and collided with the wooden support pillar with a mighty and destructive crash that shattered and split the pillar in half.

Kaname was sent catapulting into the air and slammed face first into the pillar with bits of wooden splinters stabbing into his face which made him cry out in agonising pain. luckily the splinters missed his eyes. Unfortunately, there was worse to come for him as while he was in his concussive state, the ceiling and the walls started to crumble and then started to collapse "NOOOOOOO!" was the last cry that from a man that had been silenced in a split second of the mountain rock crashing down on top of him. he was snake in life, lying and deceiving his way to power and fame that he strongly desired for no matter who gets in his way, but in the end he was rewarded with being buried alive inside a mine that collapsed in on itself because of his foolish mistake, burying him in the process with hundreds of tonnes of mountain rock and resources where no one will hear him scream or know of his petty little existence again.

* * *

 **(Back to Karasu and Naruto)**

Karasu heard the noise and peered down the dark tunnel, which was barely illuminated by the faint glimmers of light left down there. She noticed that in the distance, within the depths of the tunnel, was an incoming dust cloud. Before she could take shelter, the cloud exploded into her and Naruto's faces, forcing her to shut her eyes and dig her heels into the ground to keep her balance.

She opened her eyes and then noticed faint rumbling by watching a stone vibrate by itself. Not long after she noticed this, the tremors began to quicken and started to become more aggressive. Then, the emergency sirens began to wind up and blare out their warning of the incoming danger throughout every floor of the mine. During the sirens cry came the voice over the tannoy system.

 ***woooOOOOOOOO!***

" **EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! CLEAR THE MINES IMMEDIATELY! GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF THERE FAST! THE MINE IS COLLAPSING! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"** the voice over the tannoy system bellowed as the tremors began to worsen and the tunnels began to shake and crack under the pressure.

Karasu, however didn't need to be told twice as she was already way ahead of the rest of the evacuees as she had already reached the elevator with Naruto on her back and the rifle in her hand. She held it by the grip and had already reloaded it as she managed to figure out how it worked on her way to the elevator.

When she got in the elevator, she turned around and heard what appeared to be a stampede of desperate miners clamouring towards the elevator in a desperate struggle to escape. They were pushing against each other, knocking each other over and even trampling on one another to their deaths. They hadn't noticed her yet as she knocked open a hatch on top of the elevator and climbed through along with Naruto.

The miners reached the elevator, which quickly became overcrowded. It did not take them long to start pushing each other out of the elevator in a desperate attempt to get it moving. Then, one of the miners called to everyone in the elevator and pointed to the open service hatch where Karasu was waiting outside, holding onto the steel cable with Naruto by her side. She had an arm wrapped tightly around him and in her other hand was a rifle that was pointed towards the steel cable coupled to the elevator.

"Sorry boys, but this elevator's now out of order." She eye smiled before pulling the trigger on the gun and the rifle simply blasted through cable and sent the elevator plummeting to the lowest levels, dooming the passengers inside. Karasu held onto Naruto tightly as they ascended to the top ground floor of the mine at great speeds making good time. Unfortunately, the mine… no the entire mountain was collapsing at an even more accelerated rate that before and was quickly catching up to them.

* * *

(Outside of the mine)

The courtyard and the central control tower had already been evacuated and there were still Special Forces soldiers and guards running out of the mines in a hurry before the next tremor caused the mine to collapse. Considering the increasing frequency and force behind the tremors, they all knew that the next one was going to be a catastrophic one.

One of the soldiers noticed the ground was breaking apart as the cracks were digging deeper and deeper as they were reaching the central control tower. The soldier held his breath for a moment and braced for impact.

… Well… for a moment he thought it would bad, but it turns out that it was - ***BOOM!*** Ok! It was bad, really bad!

The central control tower briefly started sinking into the earth, before it completely gave way and the tower just slid into the ground. The tower soon toppled over and collapsed onto the entrance of the mine while several other places had giant sink holes forming underneath several other buildings. They too sank into the mountain. Even the mountain peak had formed a giant crack and collapsed soon afterwards. This triggered a chain reaction resulting in a series of violent avalanches on several mountains in the area that buried several ravines in deep snow and ice along with several nearby cabins, military outposts, forests and a village.

After the destruction and total collapse of the mine had calmed down and passed, a moment of dreaded silence hung over the area. The silence was soon broken from the sudden uproar caused by the voices and shouts of the soldiers and guards that remained of the garrison and the special forces unit of Cerberus. Each of them were shouting orders to soldiers of what needed to be done and in a matter of moments a full scale rescue operation was underway to search for anyone that managed to survive. They then started to set up a temporary base somewhere away from the mine and located on flat stable ground. There, they provided medical aid, food, supplies and shelter. The soldiers found several survivors in the nearby buildings, but no survivors were founds yet near the entrance of the mine.

Suddenly, there was movement coming from the rubble near the entrance. Several shouts from the soldiers were heard and several soldiers raced towards the entrance eager to help anyone who survived. Without warning the rubble flew away from the entrance as if it had been kicked away by something. And then, out of the darkness and into the light came out Karasu who held Naruto close to her side and the rifle in her other arm with her teigu holstered safe and sound on her hip. Behind her were six soldiers from her unit who also luckily survived.

"Colonal!" they all shouted in joy and saluted her fortunate return.

Karasu smirked to herself and nodded. "At ease gentlemen… has a medical tent been set up yet?"

"Yes mam! All set and ready for you!" the soldier nodded.

"Good! As soon as I take Naruto to get healed and a check upon along with myself, I want a damage report in full, along with the status of our troops ASAP!" she ordered before she dragged Naruto all the way to the medical tent.

Some of the guards tried to insist on taking Naruto off of her arms, but she insisted that she took him… and by insisting, she meant threatening the guards by pointing the rifle in their faces which made them back off. She then went on her merry way with her man in her arms humming a soothing song to herself and Naruto.

* * *

 **(Mindscape)**

 **"That was pathetic!"**

 _"Come now, you know why he is not at peak condition. You can't just expect people to be masters at everything right off the bat."_

 **"He had all the time in the world and in his short measly life to get stronger! And what does he do? He spent most of his academy days wasting his time on pranking the village to gain some sort of… recognition that he will never get from them."**

" _You have to give him some credit where it's due. At least he managed to escape._ "

" **Barely, and he technically didn't, as he had help from that woman.** "

" _Yes I know. However, he's free now and he is dead set on what he wants to do now. Don't you at least want to help him out?_ "

" **Him?... Are you saying I should help a human to achieve global domination? Is that what you want?** "

" _If it'll achieve world peace and push them towards advancement? Then yes… Humanity is too divided. They are always in conflict with one another. There is no sense of unity amongst them._ "

" **And what makes him different from the rest of humanity? What he is doing is not so much different, but to declare war on the world just to achieve power, peace, prosperity and achievements?** "

" _Exactly…_ "

" **... You're insane.** "

" _No… I'm dead serious about this. I'm just trying to be realistic here._ "

" **Nani?** "

" _Achieving peace through understanding others will never work out the way you want it to. In order to achieve this, you must understand the opposite man/woman in front of you for what they truly are. No matter how good or bad they really are. If you come to accept that and make peace with them... then perhaps you just accepted a monster and made peace with evil. What should be done instead is to understand where the source of the problems is and deal with it accordingly. That can work both ways for each side, no matter how you look at it from each perspective. There always is the right way of choosing, but there is always the chance that it could be something that the opposite man will refuse to accept. It won't work all the time and they may not accept you and therefore you must be cut out of their visions of peace. Hence why those villagers and the rest of the fools that dwell in that rotten village will never understand and accept him for what he really is. They'd just keep deluding themselves and come to accept the wrong facts that paint him as the demon, while they refuse the facts about them being the true monsters._ "

The red headed woman remained silent, but continued listening.

" _Peace through power, however, is different. It can be used either way. Some use it for profit, others use it to keep the peace through subjugation to preserve the few people's own selfish peace, while the rest are left to struggle to survive. Those people become weaker as they are bled dry by the few who are in control of the country's power. These people abuse their power so that they can assert their dominance over the weak to prove to themselves that they are strong. However, peace can be preserved if you don't show weakness to those who wish to usurp it. You must always be aware of and be prepared to handle the dangers that can threaten the peace. This includes using power as a deterrent, like to prevent anyone who would dare try to oppose the peace. some call it tyranny, but i call it necessary because there are times where it is necessary if you want peace, but you must always prepare yourself for conflict if you wish for it._

 _Although, there is one type peace that is quite… misunderstood. That peace is forgiveness._ "

" **... Is this a joke? I get where you are coming from. Wars have started due to petty and dumb reasons alike and often selfish and greedy reasons as well, but that was from the idiots who were in charge. Other than that… what if the reasons for your suffering points to one who has done the unforgivable? Why should Naruto forgive those people? Why should he forgive the ones who intentionally wronged him?** " The fox lady snorted disdainfully.

" _He has every right to never forgive most of them. I mean who would forgive the many who gave into their hate and those few who are directly responsible for plotting and scheming in his suffering and the many other things that have added more problems to the world? Not me and especially not you. Forgiveness is reserved for the people who truly regret what they have done against you, for those who had no intention of harming you, those who were unable or incapable of helping you because of their own weaknesses or they too were being held back. Thus, those should be the reasons why some truly deserve a second chance, but they must make amends to fix the problems they have caused first if you want to accept their apologies in order to make peace with them. That is how it should be done, but sometimes you must realize that there are times where there are those that are far from forgiveness. Thus, your forgiveness in them will be rewarded with a spit to the face and you giving them another chance to commit more wrongs against you and others. Forgiveness should never… be taken for granted. Its value should always be considered carefully and should never be given to the absolute evil and the cruel. Giving them second chances and they may prove to some that it was a bad decision that they may come to regret, as that forgiveness will most likely be betrayed upon unless you deal with them personally and once and for all or you make the decision that no good man or woman will ever want to make and take the threat out before they really do cause more harm onto anyone else._ "

 **"Hn! You sure have a way with words for a deity in a stone. You would no doubt upset even the most fanatical of loyal followers and overthrow the most zealous of believers in their own countries with their own ideologies whether logical or make-belief... You do know… that once you set him upon this path, that MAN will definitely not accept such a decision, especially if it involves removing Konoha."**

 _"Whether it involves Konoha or of the Empire, it is his decision to make. Although I didn't suggest that he should destroy them. In fact, it is sometimes better that you keep them alive. However, in order for the individual country to survive, the rotten parts must be cut out like a tumour. A good surgeon knows this when they're on the operating table."_

 **"And you believe him to be the key that will bring true peace?"**

 _"He has to be. After all, this is not the only time and place where I have heard this child of prophecy thing I keep on hearing about. I can assure you, it is not false. It has been speculated by sages for ages and the time for the child of prophecy is near. The humans that realize that he is the one, will try and take advantage of him to assure that they will make it out on top after the fallout."_

" **Of course they would… they will no doubt try and I know of some people who have tried, as well as some who are connected to the summon clans that have the abilities of foresight. I bet that toad man will try something with him."**

" _He might, but his vision of peace will follow understanding. Like I said before, understanding one person and another is to understand who the individuals really are on the inside… are they good, evil or are they in-between? To achieve peace… you need to understand each path that it takes towards it and harness them, whether it is the good, the bad or the ones that affect both sides of the same coin."_

 **"Why are you so determined that he can do this?"**

" _Because he shows great untapped potential. Once he unleashes it... he will become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. So what say you? Will you continue to be a bystander?"_

" **... Will I be granted freedom?"**

" _Well that is up to him. But if you want my opinion on this? Then I think it is better that you stay in here. A gigantic fox wandering the world will no doubt become a potential target for a nation who desires an ultimate weapon."_

 **"Are you underestimating me?"** the fox lady narrowed her eyes at her.

" _Not at all, but arrogance will eventually lead to your downfall if you keep up the big talk. Staying here will be the safer option on this side of the planet after all."_

" **Humph! Fine… I'll help."** she looked away and crossed her arms and pouted and sulked to herself.

" _I knew you would see reason._ " Prometheus beamed in delight before turning towards Naruto who was lying on the ground who was semi-conscious, but also following the conversation. " _Did you follow everything we said?"_ she asked Naruto who groaned and nodded slightly. " _Good. Someday you will need this knowledge if you ever want to survive in this world."_ Prometheus smiled over to him while the redhead looked away in an attempt to ignore that he was there.

Naruto then stood up on two feet and gave himself a few stretches."Alight… I'm out of that mine. So… are any of you going to explain what I want to know?"

" _Like what?"_ Prometheus tilted her head.

"Like… who is she? And… why is she in a cage? What happened around here and what is up with that…city or whatever that its supposed to be?"

" _I can answer questions two and three, but you have ask her for the first one."_ she raised her hand and explained before pointing her thumb over to the redhead who sniffed and rolled her eyes. "As it goes, what happened here is that we got into a… disagreement of sorts. She didn't appear to appreciate the gift I gave to her and how handy it can really be to her since her original form is too… colossal. Her reaction to what I did made her react badly as if her pride had been stepped on. So she acted like a child and decided to launch a big "fuck off" condensed chakra ball at one of my towers." She pointed to the collapsed skyscraper that had been cut in half while the repair drones were circling around the building."

"Ok... and the first question?"

They both looked expectantly at the redhead. " _You do know it's impolite not to introduce yourself? What's more, you can't stay there sulking to yourself forever. Come on, you did agree to help you know?"_

" **Ergh! Fine! As she said this is not the form you best know me as. Although I'm quite surprised you didn't figure out who I am based on my fox like features."** She groaned before she turned around and faced him on an elegant seating position with her head resting on her knees. Although she looked quite uncomfortable by the way she was fidgeting. It was clear that she was still trying to get used to her human body.

Naruto blinked by what she said and then took notice of all the foxy features that this red headed woman had. Two pointy fox ears on the top of her head, deep blood red eyes that were slitted like a cats, three identical whisker marks on each side of her cheeks and 9 swishing orange tails… wait... 9… tails?

Naruto's face then suddenly morphed into shock and he shakily raised his hand and pointed at the fox lady.

"Y-y-y-you're the K-kyuubi?" Naruto's eyes widend in suprise.

" **Mm-hm"** she nodded as she gave him a blank stare, clealry unimpressed by his lack of-

"Well… that makes perfect sense now." He lowered his eyes tiredly sighed out tirdly and gave up on being shocked as he suddenly found the emotion of not caring.

The kyuubi blinked and narrowed her eyes at her host.

 **"You… don't seem so shocked anymore?"**

"Well… truth is, I already had my suspicions that this could be a possibility of why I was hated. I mean, the villagers were never tight lipped enough anyways. They always tried to keep a huge secret that involved me in some way, but they were never good at hiding it away from me. Plus I was aware that there was a law about something that mentions something along the lines of the Kyuubi, Demon, Jinchuriki or something like that. Then I hear the loose lipped ones spouting out insults at me like demon brat and the fox reincarnation. At first, I thought they were just insults, but I soon realized that they held some decent amount of evidence to my suspicions. Thus, I figured that the Yondaime didn't kill you that day. You're right here in the flesh… Was I really just deluding myself then? That I strongly believed myself to be a human being? "

Prometheus looked over towards The Kyuubi and gave her a look and nodded her head over to Naruto.

The Kyuubi sighed to herself, wondering what she could have done to deserve this. " **No… No, Naruto, you are not me. Do not believe the words spouted from those who cannot backup their claims with accurate evidence. It is true that the Yondaime did defeat me... as much as it annoys me to admit it. But he didn't kill me.** "

"Then what did he do?"

"Ever heard of Fuinjutsu?" she looked over to Naruto who nodded.

"Well… yeah. It's like one of the hardest and complex subjects to learn according to the academy."

"And they're right, unless if you are a prodigy or from the Uzumaki clan."

"Wait… clan?"

"We'll get to that. The point is, the Yondaime Hokage did the unthinkable and he successfully sealed me into a new-born child… that child was you."

"What?… why!? Why me of all people!?" Naruto tensed and narrowed his eyes and demanded for an answer.

Kyuubi looked a bit hesitant to answer that question." Who else would he place the burden on? Would you ask a random parent if you can use their child for a sacrifice?"

"I…guess not?"

" **No…you fucking won't unless you are a heartless bastard."**

"Well what makes him any different? What right did he have when he chose to sacrifice a child's life, namely mine!" Naruto gritted his teeth in aggravation.

" **He didn't trust anyone else to handle the burden of being my container. He would only trust his own blood and family as that as was the only choice he had available to him at the time, but you were the one chosen for it as he was forced to rush his decision. My previous container was unable to re-seal me, because she had just gone through labor which made her weak. Unless she wanted to kill herself and me with her, she probably would've taken it to save you from the painful life of being a jinchuriki. "**

Naruto's eyes narrowed as her cryptic words were starting to unravel some answers that he was seeking for years, but he was too angry and his mind was in a whirlpool of emotions he was currently feeling, mostly aimed at the Yondaime.

"You mean… I could've led a normal life… but it was denied by you and the Yondaime when you were involved in your attack on the village… and that Yondaime Hokage that I use to look up to and respect? He was the one who cursed my life!?" Naruto gritted his teeth together.

The Kyuubi looked away and winced at the harshness of his tone, suddenly feeling the emotion of shame and regret which she found… heavy and painful on her chest.

"And what was your reason for rampaging through the village? Why? Did you ruin my life just so you can destroy the village for shits and giggles!? Tell me!" his anger was rising in his chest and hot tears were welling up in his eyes as he glared at the kyuubi who was trying hard not to show emotion to his accusations but she was feeling pangs of regret in her human body.

Prometheus then chose this time to intervene and placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder who tensed and looked back Prometheus with a scowling expression. "Naruto… The kyuubi is not some mindless beast, she is a sentient manifestation of chakra created by the Rikudo Sennin himself. Don't go accusing her of something when you don't even know the full story behind it. Ask her what really happened before you judge her so harshly." She reprimanded him before she urged him.

Naruto's eyes widened. He never even considered that thought, and he just gave into his anger and almost lost himself… was he really that ignorant to forget reason and understanding?"

The Kyuubi sighed to herself. " **Instead of telling him, how about I show him?** "

"You can do that?" Naruto looked at her in suprise

 **"Sure"** Kyuubi nodded. **"I can show my own experiences as well as my two previous containers before you."** She said before raising one of her tails, pointed the tip of her tail to his forehead and gently poked it. Once the tip of the tail connected with Naruto's forehead, a surge of memories came flooding in. Memories that were not his own.

* * *

 **(Basically it is the canon events of Kyuubi's past events.)**

 **(Kyuubi's POV)**

I couldn't believe that the old man was gone... why do I feel so… hurt inside? I don't understand.

Just before he passed, he mentioned something about a link that exists between me and my siblings despite our separation and that one day we will be reunited again. As If I would want to see Shukaku again, the others are bad enough! Either way, the old man said that there will be someone who will show us what true strength is… what could he have meant by that?

Over the years after the old man's death, we were separated and I never saw my siblings again. At first, part of me was happy that I didn't have to see them again, but soon enough… I began to miss them. Well… after the old man's death, I did get into an argument about what the old man meant by true strength. So I arrogantly proclaimed that I was the strongest when we brought the number of tails into the argument, which pissed off my younger siblings, especially Shukaku. Then I decided to make my point clear when I absolutely floored him... *Sigh!* Good times, but perhaps… maybe I was a bit… Agh! It doesn't matter anymore, so much time has passed and I'll doubt I'll be meeting them anytime soon and I'll doubt they'll even care by the time we're all reunited.

And now I was left alone, wandering these lands like a nomad that would soon be later known as the elemental nations. My first thoughts of these lands were… strange, but I was a curious little kit then. I wanted to explore and satisfy my sense of curiosity and adventure. I will admit, it was a nice feeling at first. I met all kinds of interesting creatures that were like me and my siblings, but they all had one tail or none at all. Even if I was a kit at the time, I was still huge, taller than most living things in these lands.

Most of the creatures were docile, while there those that did not mind my presence such as birds. I wonder what it would be like to have the true power to fly? Must be great… flying without a care in the world... lucky them.

But my curiosity got the better of me when I discovered another species that the old man mentioned… humans. He said that he taught them how to use and harness chakra to the best effect. So, I thought that they must be good... right?

"Run! There's a demon's here!"

"Get out of here! Leave us alone!"

"Help! Somebody save me before it eats me!"

My first impressions of them were not good and I instantly did not like them. They were kind of annoying and they got scared way too easily. I kept feeling something that was coming from them. Something strong, yet… dark. Why were they looking at me like that? What did I do to them to receive these dark, fearful and negative looks back at me? All I did was try to introduce myself to one of these humans and all of a sudden he ran off screaming. He even threw this stick at me with a flattened and curved metal edge at the end that was really sharp and it hit my nose which really hurt. Although, I may have… retaliated by swiping my paws in defense at his attack and I was also a bit angry at the time. I nearly ended up killing him as I launched him into a tree. Then, sooner or later more of these humans had found me and what made them different than the one I almost killed was that they wielded father's chakra. They must be more reasonable than those humans before, right?

"Attack!"

"Capture the Kyuubi!"

I was wrong... They used father's own chakra that was blessed to them and taught to them by him while it was originally created by his mother. They abused it by attacking me with it... How dare they... what right did they have to use his gift in such a way! After more years had passed, I eventually came to a conclusion about my thoughts towards humanity… they were evil and easily corruptible. They hate what they don't understand and they fear it just because. And most of all… they were greedy... too greedy for their own good. They also fought against each other a lot over petty disputes, land, riches, resources, even women... What is wrong with them?

Interestingly enough, the fighting soon died down a fair bit and they soon began to organised themselves a bit better than what it was like previously. But that was soon going to be a problem for me as these established shinobi villages were military dictatorships and some things never changed. I had no idea what they were there for and what they were trying to bring, but it all started with the formation of this one hidden village… Konohagakure.

Not long after, more hidden villages soon started to pop up out of the blue, inspired by the idea of having a military style village for shinobi and run by the shinobi. It was the perfect place for power to grow. They quickly assumed control over their territories and focused on protecting their interests. Eventually, the Daimyos of the lands soon accepted the idea and left every dispute to the shinobi.

But it was not long after before these so called shinobi started to trouble me again. Starting with these two freaks. I don't know who they were, nor did I care. All that I knew was that they were brothers and they hailed from the hidden village of Kumo or some shit like that.

In their arrogance, they believed that they could capture me… I soon proved them wrong by eating them whole without chewing. After two weeks, I wished I had chewed them up before swallowing, because those little bastards soon gave me indigestion. It wasn't long before it got so bad that I had to regurgitate them. It was only after I spat them out, that I realized what they had done. They had stolen my chakra and now they could partially use it… albeit, not very well, but still I found it offensive that these little monkeys had the gall to steal from me. Oh well, i knew they would soon die because that chakra will sooner kill them than benefit them. I knew I could wait for that.

Not long after that ordeal did I truly meet one of these humans face to face and he actually spoke to me. The man standing in front of me was named Madara Uchiha… This man's chakra was repulsive, yet familiar. I could feel this man's darkness within him along with his incredibly arrogant attitude and with those eyes of his… wait? Why couldn't I move my body?

Before I knew it, I was then sent to a battlefield to do battle with this man from Konoha. It seems they had a score to settle and the Uchiha brought me into it against my will. The battle was fierce, destructive and almost cataclysmic. For humans to have this much power was just unbelievable. They would have to redraw the maps in certain areas where the destruction was most severe.

Soon the battle ended and I was finally freed from that accursed Uchiha's control... but then immediately soon after, I was subdued... again. It turns out that this Senju was weary of my power.

"Kyuubi! Your power is too great. Regrettably, I cannot let you run loose." This human, Hashirama Senju had told me. He was saying that I was dangerous? Is he joking? What right did he have to say that I am a danger?! That fucking hypocrite! Humans have always been dangerous even before I was born!

Not long after I was sealed into this… woman. An Uzumaki woman who had familiar blood running through her veins. It seems that they were descendants of the old man's son, Asura. Not to mention they were cousins, related to the Senjus over at Konoha, which is where I will be sent to get sealed into this woman called Mito Uzumaki.

"Please stay quiet inside me."

Those were the only words she said to me, before she sealed me into her body and locked me up inside this prison. No words were said between use, but I occasionally saw a 1st person view of the outside world through her eyes as I managed to somehow figure out some of the fail safes within her Fuinjutsu formulas.

What I thought about my container was that she was… very calm and composed. Nothing troubled her... well almost nothing. She also had this dignified aura about her, like she was royalty. I later learned that even my brothers and sisters had also been captured by Hashirama. I refused to believe the foretelling that my father mentioned when I was just a kit, not like this.

However, it turns out that it wasn't the case… It was worse. We were bargained to other villages for money and peace! In his naivety, he came to realize that it was not how the world works. You do not trade weapons with those who lust for power themselves all for a token of peace and to add balance in the world. No matter how you look at it, we were just weapons, deterrents to others who wish to oppose them.

The arrogance of these humans... it disgusted me.

I stayed locked up safe and sound inside of Mito through several of her life times. She even lived way past her nineties, which for a shinobi was quite impressive as they were not expected to live very long with their profession. She even lived passed to see the end of the two shinobi wars that ravaged the elemental nations. I could've gotten myself free from the seal at one point. It was during her childbirth when she gave birth to her children after she and Hashirama had mated.

It was strange and also weird seeing it through someone else's eyes while they rutted around like rabbits. It was even stranger as I thought of why I was interested in this mating ritual of theirs when I'm just a giant fox spirit made of highly condensed chakra. I can't even have children like they can. Their emotions for each other were also weird. It was different from all the dark stares I had received in my wandering days. In fact, this one was... sweeter instead of bitter. Still, the seal almost broke at one point, but Mito was a genius when it came to Fuinjutsu and I was soon shoved back inside the seal.

A shame... I couldn't offer my congratulations to her, how cold of her.

During the final days of the Second Shinobi War, I felt a heavy pang of despair coming from her heart and mind. I learned that her home had been destroyed by a collaboration of three shinobi villages that all banded together out of fear of the island nation and clan-run home of Uzushiogakure, A rising village of immensely powerful shinobi, who were considered experts, even masters at Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu along with their massive chakra reserves and chakra chains. They were even descendants of the sage of the six paths and were capable of earning the Rinnegan so that was a huge example on reasons why to destroy Uzushio. The death of her husband was already bad enough, but she even lost her home.

However, as the years passed by, she refused to use my power, but she did use one ability that was granted by her from me… the ability to detect negative emotions. She and I had suspected that foul play was amiss here. It was reported that Uzu had called for aid, but Konoha didn't answer because they were too far apart and they did not have enough manpowerto spare according to the recently instated Sandaime Hokage.

That was indeed strange. If that was true, then why was there a whole division of shinobi hidden deep underneath the Hokage tower? Who were they? And why didn't they help?

So many questions… still, all was not lost. Konoha had managed to acquire a native of Uzushio to replace the current Jinchuriki because her body was growing weaker due to old age despite her Uzumaki blood that still made her look like she was in her mid-sixties.

I was to be re-sealed inside of this girl? The poor girl was incredibly scared of me due to the stories of my might and power behind my tails. She too locked me up out of fear of me and she barely talked to me. What was worse about this ordeal was the seal that had been chosen to contain me. Was this seal tampered by any chance? Because it was just too cruel.

I was chained and nailed like a crucifixion onto a moon for crying out loud! What did I ever do to her to deserve this!?

"You keep the world at bay, but I keep you at bay." She said to me.

... We'll see about that.

Luckily, I could still see through her point of view because of the seal as it was almost the same, but with a few differences to the first seal. The first one was just a blank endless space, which was really boring. This one had more color and brightness to it, but without me being crucified and chained to a huge rocky sphere like moon.

I will admit, this Kushina girl was way more entertaining than Mito ever was. While Mito was calm, collected, royal and dignified. Kushina was headstrong, impulsive, eccentric and stubborn along with being extremely talkative and tomboyish which I admired about her, I will admit.

In her childhood, she was also insecure about her hair, being a foreigner and being my Jinchuriki. She would often get picked on by the girls and boys of her academy class. While I snorted at the thought of the humans trying to assert their own sense of dominance over another which was pretty cowardly and weak of them to do so, she soon proved them to be the weak ones when she beat several academy kids, including gennins who were relatives and siblings of the kids she just beat up. Her actions soon earned her the nickname "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" for her ferocity and for the unrelenting fury that she brought upon the bullies. After that, she took no shit from anybody else. Kushina would later become a high ranking Jonnin and earn the title of the "Red Death" of Konoha for her deadly mastery of Kenjutsu along with her chakra chains.

Before her renowned career came to be, when she was twelve and already a Gennin, she was rescued by the future Yondaime of Konoha, Minato Namikaze. He had rescued her from Kumogakure shinobi who infiltrated Konoha and kidnapped her from her home. She had secretly left a trail of her red hair that she hated about herself, but her hair was the one thing that led him to her and she was soon whisked away by her knight in shining armour.

While he did rescue her and quell her insecurities about herself and made her into a strong woman when she got older, I couldn't help but feel suspicious about him… like there was something wrong with him.

Years later… Kushina was pregnant. It was the only thing that she couldn't stop talking about as her over excitement had gotten the better of her. It was then made weird on how they came up with the name for the child… Naruto… Really? A fishcake… or maybe it could mean Maelstrom? They had gotten the name over a meal of ramen and Minato's master was releasing this book called "The tales of a Gutsy Ninja" by Jiraiya the toad sage. It turned out to be his first flop as an author, but Minato and Kushina loved it and named their child after the main character.

Months later, the time finally came for Kushina to go into labor, and my second chance for freedom. Unfortunately, they had two skilled Fuinjutsu masters present and one of them wasn't even an Uzumaki. I was surprised that he was better at it than his wife.

They managed to keep me sealed and the child was delivered safely and… Wait… are those whiskers on his cheeks? How did they get there? Hmmm?… What does that make me to him if he inherited something from me? And my Kami! Were newborns supposed to be this loud once born!? I could feel my ears ringing even from within Kushina's seal!

Before I could complain further, I sensed a dark presence from outside of the cave and was moving to attack the newly made parents of the new-born child. I wanted to warn Kushina, because I did not want the child to be hurt in all of this, but Kushina still barely talked to me even after she grew more confident. Apparently my stories had made me revered as a calamity to the world, as if I wanted that title those humans gave me. That reason was made more apparent as Kushina still didn't trust me due to those reasons and following Mito's cautions after her death.

This stranger had a similar taint to the same Uchiha that had controlled me with those cursed Sharingan eyes of his. He came into the cave fully cloaked and he wore a mask that covered his whole face excluding his left eye. The Uchiha had taken the time to attack the two people that were in the room prior to assist with the childbirth, along with the ANBU guards stationed outside. He then snatched the baby away from the recently made parents. This Uchiha wanted me for some reason and I was going to let him without a fight.

Unfortunately, he decided to play dirty by throwing the new-born child into the air and placed explosive tags onto Naruto which forced Minato to flash away with him with that exclusive move of his, leaving his wife behind and the explosive notes removed off of Naruto.

The next thing in knew, Kushina was being teleported into a forest clearing right next to an old village. The Uchiha wasted no time ripping me out of the seal. After that, when I looked into that accursed eye if his, I lost all control and my mind shutdown. I went berserk as I lost control of myself. He then sent me on a rampage across Konoha, following the orders of this arrogant Uchiha. I was not fully conscious throughout most of it, but by the time I managed to regain some semblance of control… I found out that I was going to be resealed again, this time into the newborn Naruto.

Kushina had outright opposed the sealing that Minato had suggested. She never wanted to put her son through the pain of being a Jinchuriki, but Minato said he needed to do this for the village. Kushina was outraged that he placed the village first instead of her and her son. He even opposed her decision of resealing the fox back into her, killing it along with her. While the idea wasn't a bad one, I was not comfortable with dying just yet. Plus, I don't I think she understands our biology that well. He tried to convince her that the village needed me because I helped to keep the peace around the elemental nations and that the village will see their son as a hero for containing me… which I highly doubted that happening.

Hundreds if not thousands of his people are dead because of me. Is he an idiot? Revealing me to be inside of your own son is asking for a death wish to be placed upon him. Did he not understand human nature? It is not in them to forgive and forget all of the losses they had suffered because you tell them to. I can even feel their lust for vengeance all the way from here. Their hearts and minds are crying out revenge. What is wrong with him?

Ah… I see it now... he is incredibly zealous and fanatical about his own village that he placed the needs of his village above the needs of his own family. I see it now... his mind has been poisoned by the lies and deceit that the village council has been feeding him and the love and pride of his own village grew when he was with Jiraiya and the Sandaime, to the point that it blinded him... and for that he can see no wrong about this village while there was plenty of evil hidden beneath the cracks of its foundation. This was a festering ground of corruption, decay, deceit, arrogance and ignorance, populated by schemers, backstabbers, liars and patriotic hatred of everything else that they believe to be underneath them. This was not the village that the Senju had envisioned. It had long since fallen from grace... and yet Minato wanted to save it by using his own child as a sacrifice… I don't think so! I will not be used as somebodies weapon!

* * *

(A few miles outside of Konoha. Still the Kyuubi's POV)

"Wh-why!?" she coughed out. I was impressed that despite her condition, Kushina still managed to hold me back with her chains, even while she was still suffering from labour pain, as well as having me ripped out of her. However,I noticed that her hold on me had grown noticeably weaker.

Minato too appeared to be reluctant, but he was too dutiful to his village. He recomposed himself and spoke in a serious tone. "We need Naruto. He is to be the child of prophecy and it has been foretold that he will be the one to bring peace. He will be the one to make sure that Konoha survives what is to come in the future." He said to reassure himself that this was all for the best.

"Y... you... Fool!... for them!?... They're just… using you… for their sick twisted schemes!"

"I don't believe you Kushina. Konoha will never fall to the likes of evil."

"It already has!... My village was one of those fallen because of Konoha!" Kushina screamed at Minato with rage and Minato looked shaken to hear her rage and her hostile views of Konoha and even accusing his beloved village that they were guilty of being involved in Uzushio's destruction, but he stubbornly refused to listen.

" **Weak, cowardly and undisciplined just like the rest of your race."** I snorted making myself heard as I glared at the Yondaime.

"This does not involve you Kyuubi."

" **But it does, since you're trying to be seal me again, this time into your son. I find it quite ironic that you have the nerve to call me a force of evil. Oh, how wrong you are! This world is tainted by evil, fear, hatred and death. All of these are caused by you humans. Do you really have the audacity to believe that you are not the evil ones? Why, haven't you yourself killed many people in your lifetime, in the Third Shinobi War and ruined many other people's lives? You are either a fool or a madman to believe that you are in the right. Konoha has long lost its fire from long ago. Once you let the rot and decay set in, it is nearly impossible to get rid of it."**

"I will not stay still and listen to your taunts Kyuubi!... I know you don't want to be sealed again, but I have no choice. You are too dangerous to be set free across the elemental nations. It is too huge a risk and you could be captured by our enemies. We need you here contained inside of my son. If this prophecy is true, then I believe you will be an invaluable ally to him." Minato said with utmost confidence that made me want to tear him to pieces.

" **What makes you think that he will choose Konoha once that time comes and when he realises the truth about your village?** "

"He will… in time he will come to love our home like I do." he smiled.

I gritted my teeth in sheer anger and hatred of this naive man and tried to lunge at him, but my previous container held me back with her chakra chains. It seems she still held some feelings for this fool of a man.

Suddenly, I felt my chakra being cut in half and I shrunk in size as I lost half of my power. At that moment, I felt more anger than I have ever felt before.

" **What have you done?!** " I roared at the Yondaime Hokage who dared to do this to me.

"Shiki Fuin!" he casted a seal that split my chakra in half along with half of my soul that contained my Yin chakra, because he could not seal all of me into the child. That bastard planned to use my other half to make himself into a Jinchuriki, but I doubt he'll live long enough as one because the seal he was using has a great price to pay for using it. Once he was done, he turned to seal the rest of my form into his child with the Hakke fuin.

Minato collapsed near the pedestal and looked at his son with nought, but a comforting smile on his face. Sadly, he was unable to process any words to express from father to son. That man was running out of time because the cold grasp of the Shinigami had already taken his soul away. Within seconds, the Yondaime had died. The only words I heard were Kushina's as she expressed her words from a mother to her son. I couldn't see anything else because everything was so dark and I didn't know where I was. In front of me was a cage submerged in water and some sort of sewer or basement judging by the pipe lines running along the walls.

"Naruto… I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him from placing this burden on you. I don't know… if I have long, but… I'll try and say all that I can to you.

Don't be picky... Eat lots of veggies and grow strong.. Make sure that you bathe every day and stay warm. Also… don't stay up late... You need lots of sleep. And... make lots of friends... You don't need a lot of friends, just a few will be enough, but that'll be up to you... Choose ones you can really, really trust... But be careful of who you trust and try to make friends ith anyone you can trust, I wasn't very good at it until it was too late. Also… keep up with your studies and practice your ninjutsu and skills and work hard. Be strong, wise and kind like your mother and don't become like your foolish father. Always look underneath the underneath... remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well... respect only those that you trust and if they truly deserve it. Oh, and this is important... it's about the Three Prohibitions for a shinobi... If you don't want to be one then that is fine. Be extra careful about lending and borrowing money... put your mission wages or earnings into your savings account or in a safe place,... No alcohol until you're twenty. Too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Another Prohibition is women... I'm a woman, so I don't know too much about this, but... all you need to remember is that this world is made up of men and women. So it's only natural to take an interest in girls... Try and find someone who truly loves you. Find someone just like me... No matter if they are good or considered bad, they may still have the heart to change and come to love you and will always be with you. Also, watch out for Jiraiya Sensei, dattebane... Naruto... from now on, you're going to face lots of pain and hardship... Be true to yourself, have a dream to chase and have the confidence, will, and strength to make that dream come true, fight for it and don't let anyone drag you down... don't fall to this world's darkness. Instead... use it against them. If there comes a time… where you have a tough choice to make,make sure it is a necessary choice… I will always support you… Do not let anyone tell you otherwise or get in your way… There's so much… Oh, so much more that I want to pass on to you... I wish I could stay with you longer.. But I cannot… I love you… Naruto-kun..." were the last words i heard from her before it all went quiet... Kushina was gone.

* * *

 **(Back to the present inside the mindscape)**

Naruto jolted backwards away from the Kyuubi's tail before he clutched his head in shock, pain, despair, betrayal, and joy to know that he had someone who loved him. He would've been shown more of her memories of his childhood to the present, but Naruto forcefully cut the connection because of his grief.

"Kuso! Kuso! Why!? Why does this always happen to me!?" he collapsed onto his knees cried out in rage and sorrow

" _That is just ridiculous, What kind of obsession are they into? To want to take advantage of prophecy that will ensure their survival? they have no idea what they are meddling in._ " Prometheus asked Kyuubi while also looking at Naruto softly and in pity.

" **It's a foretelling from the Sage of the Six Paths himself, a prophecy to the world. There will come a time when a child will be born into an age of discord. That child will be the one to make the choice of bringing peace or destruction to the world. This prophecy had been started by my father, the Rikudo Sennin, but there have been alterations by some other sages. It is not known to many, except to the few who have connections to those who have the ability of foresight. The Yondaime started to become obsessed with it once he learnt the prophecy from his sensei "Jiraiya" who also learnt of the prophecy from his Toad summons, they learnt the prophecy from a great toad sage called Gamamaru. They didn't want to cause a panic among the people unless they wanted to risk having everything fall into chaos, but it wouldn't mater anyway because a large majority of the people would ignore it and pass it off as mystical nonsense."** The kyuubi answered her while looking at the floor.

Prometheus pondered that thought for a while before grinning. " _Is there a chance you can bring both peace and destruction?_ "

 **"I think that's what they already fear. They want Konoha to survive the aftermath of what the prophecy could bring, so they were trying to take advantage of it**."

 _"So they wanted to use him as their tool for their survival for such a corrupted village?_

" **I think that's the gist of it? While I do not like Konoha, but… not everyone is like that it seems.** " Kyuubi said nonchalantly as she looked away.

" _Oh?... I thought you despised humanity?_ "

Kyuubi glared at her for her remark " **I do… however, there were some that have proved to me that there were some people that I respected in that village... not many, but enough to change my opinion on them a little bit."**

"Then… why didn't they help me?" Naruto voiced out, his voice hoarse from the rising anger welling up in his throat.

 **"I don't know, but I know that they must've tried to help you. Unfortunately, you live in a great dark period of Konoha's history where the civilian and the elder councils have gained more power and control over the Hokage and the village after the Third Shinobi War and finally cemented their power during and after the chaos I caused in Konoha. Because the war and my rampage had ended 16+years ago, Konoha has lived that time in peace.**

 **However, it had also made the shinobi weaker, lazier, negligent and careless. Their academy's policies were changed on order of the civilian council to allow civilian children in as a means to increase the village's manpower immensely, but the quality of the shinobi graduates was questionable. Peace is also a great risk for enemy attack and a time for the civilians to enjoy their moments off peace in blissful ignorance… But it was also a time for bureaucrats and diplomats to achieve and establish their positions of power. The so called people that represent the civilians were nothing, but representatives of the people's voice. They spoke words of opportunity to them, but what they really meant was that they spoke of words of authority and policy that mattered only to them and to the people who could help them. Everyone else was just left in a dark corner of the room, like in the slums or the red light district and the shinobi that were discharged or objected to their orders. Especially those that have tried to adopt you or help you, they would most likely be barred from helping you and loving you on order by them and even threaten them anything that can and would make them stop.**

 **Naruto… I don't blame you if don't like me and I sure do not know what to think of you. I still don't like you... at least not as much as I did previously. Right now all that I can say is…."** she suddenly went quiet and suddenly looked like she was suppressing herself.

" **I-I-I'm… Sorry!** She suddenly bowed down to the floor by slamming her forehead onto the bottom of her cage with a loud bang which made Prometheus and Naruto sweat drop. The Kyuubi never apologised to anyone and never saw the need to, so this was a new experience for her.

"Are you ok?" Naruto asked her in minor concern.

"… **Yeah.** " She said without a care and still waiting for his response. **"I'm just not used to… these emotions you humans have. All I've known is anger, hatred, bitterness and cynicism. I feel as though my chest is about to burst from this one emotion i don't recognise.**

" _I think that's regret._ " Prometheus pointed out. " _You are sorry about the pain you have caused to him. I think your human body is bringing out more emotions than when you were in your fox body."_

 **"So that's why I've been feeling horrible? You bitch! This body is making me act out of character!** "

 _"I thought you always had them? I just found them lying about unused in your memories and I got the inspiration of the look from this Kushina and Mito. If anything, I think you've got a mixture of the emotions, personalities, memories and past experiences from both of your former Jinchurikis mixed with your own personality._ " Prometheus explained.

" _But that's beside the point. Naruto? Are you going to consider her apology?_ " she interrupted the Kyuubi's retort when a sudden tic mark formed on her head and would've growled at her in an animal like way.

Naruto stood at the spot feeling rather conflicted with himself. His whole life had been one huge lie, he had been hated for something beyond is control and his future shinobi career would've been one of manipulation, unfairness, and struggle. His dream for becoming Hokage had been torn up and was no more, and he did'nt desire to lead a village filled with hate, greed and skeleton filled closets by the dozens… but hearing his mother's words had brought something that rekindled the fire in his spirit. He had finally learnt what a parent's love felt like, and his mother believed in him and in his own choices. Even if he was going to plan to fight against the world, she would still be proud of her son. His father however… he didn't know what to think of him. He wasn't in the right mind-set, and he used him as a sacrifice all for Konoha's sake without even considering his own son's sake. However, he may have been right on one thing though… maybe he and the Kyuubi could become friends.

"It's alright… I don't care about that anymore, i promise." He said to her and Kyuubi raised her ears and looked at him with surprise. "We just… got off on the wrong foot. I don't blame you anymore and it wasn't your fault that you attacked the village… It was that Uchiha's right?"

The Kyuubi nodded. " **Indeed… I don't know who he was, but I smelt Madara's scent on him. Whoever he is, you need to be careful. I think he is planning something for us tailed beasts considering how much effort he put in to trying to capture me.** " she explained.

Naruto nodded. "I agree… but I don't have to worry about that yet. The elemental nations can wait as they are not my main concern right now."

" _Ah. So you are going to target the empire?_ "

Naruto nodded, but frowned as he scratched his head which made Prometheus sigh. "You don't have a plan, do you?"

"N…No" his shoulders slumped as he looked downcast.

Prometheus sighed and then chuckled "Take it easy Naruto-Sama, planning takes time and careful consideration. You don't even have allies yet excluding us and they are an important factor for your plans." At that word Naruto' head sprang up as a light bulb lit up above his head.

"Say… what if I recruit her?"

" _Her?... you mean?_ " Prometheus narrowed her left eye in thought.

"Yes" Naruto nodded.

Kyuubi placed a finger under her chin. " **It could work… after all, she is an imperial commanding officer.** "

"Mm" Prometheus nodded. " _But how loyal is she to the empire? That's the question?_ " she likewise did the same as the Kyuubi before they both turned to Naruto and they both had a glint to their eyes.

"Wh-What?" he hesitated as he shrunk form their glinting gaze.

 _"I think it will be up to you to convince dear Karasu to join the cause. After all, she does deeply care about you and she does not think of you as just some toy to satisfy her needs… usually... but she will listen to you_."

"How will I convince her?"

" _Just ask her how she feels about the Empire? And if she proves promising, take it away from there… Hell, show her a good time in the bedroom if it'll help._ " Prometheus grinned suggestively which Naruto actually caught on to this time.

"Oy! I'm not going to use her like that."

 **"Why? She is your slave master right? She is also the one who has the keys to your freedom.** " The kyuubi pointed out.

"I know that… she's just… different." Naruto blushed bashfully.

" _Ohhh…I see. She's the only one to have openly shown love and affection to you right?"_ Prometheus smiled as she was enjoying this

"Well… not as family like an older sister or anything, but… I think she's in love with me?" Naruto blushed even harder when he figured that simple fact out.

Prometheus and Kyuubi deadpanned and both thought _**'Moron…she's always been that way, you're just too dense and innocent to understand what any of this means. and love is a understatement considering it's her that we're on about'** _ They both rolled their eyes.

"By the way, before I leave. What is your name?" Naruto asked to the Kyuubi.

The kyuubi looked up and huffed in frustration and glared over to Prometheus who smiled back at her and motioned for her to introduce herself. The kyuubi galred at her until she relented " **I was originally named as Kurama, but since she didn't like it and turned me into a female… I guess you can call me Kayo."**

"Beauty huh?" Naruto nodded at the name and the meaning behind it, he liked it.

" _I came up with the name myself!_ " Prometheus butted in and waved her arms in the air enthusiastically. " _Her name really does bring out her beauty right? All kitsune are known to be beautiful, not that huge bright orange scowling mass of hatred, right?"_

" **Urusai! Let me out already!** " she slammed herself against the cage and rocked it violently. However, without warning, it toppled over and landed on it's side. " **Kyaa!** " she yelled out and landed flat on her face.

"Did she just... Kya?" Naruto said dumbfounded at the mightiest of tailed beasts just let out such a cute noise.

" **So Kawaii!** " Prometheus placed her hands on her cheeks before she snapped her fingers and the cage disappeared and transformed into a choker with the seal visible on the front.

" _Hai, hai… you're free now, but I expect you to be on your best behavior around here and promise to help Naruto out. okay?_ "

Kayo lifted her head up and the red mark faded away. She gave a huff and pout and looked away, crossing her arms underneath her bountiful chest that was covered by the low cut Kimono. **"Okay.** " she muttered out

" _Good._ " Prometheus smiled gratefully and then turned to Naruto who then began to fade away from the Mindscape.

"Remember what we said!" Prometheus yelled at Naruto before he vanished and the two were left alone in the Mindscape.

Kyuubi then flinched as she noticed something missing. **"Strange."**

" _What?"_

" **I feel as if something has vanished."**

 _"Yeaa...I get what you mean… when I searched through his Mindscape earlier I actually discovered another presence on the monitor._ "

" **Who?"**

 _"Not too sure… I didn't catch a good glimpse of it before It… vanished… it just simply… left his Mindscape. I think I may have something to do with it as I did rearrange his Mindscape, so I think I forced it to… relocate."_

They both looked at each other and shrugged before they both went off to do their own thing.

* * *

 **(Konoha. ?)**

In a deep hidden and secret underground room was a hospital bed with multiple machines and IV drips nearby with multiple tubes attached to a patient who laid in the bed unmoving, unconscious and weakened. Her physique had been drained over the years by the constant tests they did on her while she was still under a coma.

Her once vibrant red hair had dulled and her face had lost its shape due to malnourishment along with her body's figure that used to be a body of femininity and sexiness perfected while also physically trained to that of a high Jonnin/ Anbu levels . The body however, remained alive somehow as the leftover Kyuubi's chakra had sustained her and kept her alive from whatever she suffered from, but she still remained unconscious and half dead. All she needed was a good jolt to wake up from her coma. Fortunately, due to a convenient and accidental tampering with a seal and mindscape, a fragment of her soul returned to her body.

Her eyes opened wide in alarm and shock and her body went into a spasm. She breathed in sharply and deeply while her heart had suddenly been revived as it pounded hard, erratically and deeply within her chest and the heart monitor's readings were going haywire.

in her moment of panic she then kicked off the bed sheets and jumped off the bed pulling the tubes from the drips with her and pulled the large tube out of her mouth.

"Gah!" she coughed and spluttered and breathed in deeply and breathed out heavily and collapsed onto the cold hard floor and she stood up weakly.

"N-Naruto-kun?..." she looked around anxiously for her son, only to find no one but her in the room. Then the memories started to kick in and her face morphed into panic and desperation "Sochi!" her eyes widened in panic and with renewed vigour and willpower as she sprinted out the door by ripping it open and ignoring the alarms and the mobilisation of multiple shinobis and doctors. She sprinted down the dark, unfamiliar shadowy hallway not caring that she was in a thin and flimsy hospital gown that had an open slit at the back. She was determined to escape and by kami she will. She will not rest, until she finds the Sandaime Hokage. She will get her answers. As the saying goes **"Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned!"**

 **(END CHAPTER)**

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 **Yes I know I deliberately made Kyuubi female and i don't really care. This is a rise of an empire (Naruto's empire fic) so fair warning there will be several crossovers in later chapters like in most empire fics, mostly involving Naruto's Teigu powers and possible neighbouring countries on the western continent.**

 **And yes, Kushina's alive... (Put's on British WW1 Tommy helmet and digs a 6ft hole and takes cover in it) it's official and i'm not changing it. I will definitely not bash on Kushina, don't know why people do? seriously, the last thing on a long list i would want to do is a neglect fic with Naruto's family, which i won't... although i technically just did a year ago.**

 **Anyways... Thank you so much for reading and please leave a comment. Criticism is allowed but it needs to be constructive and not toxic, otherwise it will be gone.**

 **See ya next time**

 **Next chapter: Karasu's origins and Aftermath**


	4. Chapter 4: Origins Part 1

**I apologise for the lateness as my beta reader recently had exams and my chapter was a bit excessive that I had to split it. I didn't originally intend it to be a two parter but it had to be done.**

 **The two parts mainly contain origins of both Karasu and Naruto, so i apologise to some that i may be dragging on a bit, but i deemed it necessary from here to move on to the next part of the story.**

 **I promise that things will be kicked up a notch in chapter six.**

 **Word of warning: This chapter and the next will contain scenes that may upset some viewers, but you should be fine... it's rated M for a reason.**

 **This chapter's theme song is Tool: Vicarious**

* * *

 **Origins**

Naruto stirred in his moment of unconsciousness and his eyes fluttered open slowly. He groaned as they felt heavy, along with the rest of his body. His head was ringing and aching from the pain he felt from earlier. He felt that he was more or less, mostly healed, however his knees were another story. While most of it was healed after the shuriken were removed, he was still incapacitated. Still, he wouldn't have to wait long before he was back in action, as he had always been a quick healer.

He soon noticed that there were a few more injuries that he didn't know he had. There were multiple bruises, cuts, scrapes and burns that he didn't know that he had suffered from down in the mine. He was lucky to not have been fatally shot by one of those fast… rounds?...bullets?… ammunition?... meh, they're all the same thing to him. Sure there may have been some differences here and there, but they all shared the same purpose. Point is, they proved to be nasty to the body. Provided that the person or persons being targeted were not killed by it instantly. Even if someone managed to survive, depending on the round that was used, an individual could go for hours while suffering from severe internal damage.

The miners that were armed with these weapons were more like untrained militias. They were disorganized, undisciplined and unskilled, especially when compared to Karasu's highly trained, experienced and more organised special forces and to a lesser extent the guards of the mines. However, even they paled in comparison and were nowhere near as good as Karasu's own soldiers. From what Naruto had heard of the guards, the majority of them came mostly came from the capital, which was why Karasu was not particularly pleased with the line-up of the designated soldiers that had been sent her way on orders from the prime minister. During his observations, he realized that in Karasu's eyes, they were undisciplined, incompetent and lazy.

The guards to her, were pretty much a reservist military force only meant to serve as guards of the mines, to keep a lookout, report anything suspicious, and keep the miners in line. On the other hand, Karasu's forces were the real peacekeeping force that dealt with the inner problems trying to arise both from the inside and outside of the mines. These soldiers were hard-core elites, the best of the best. They received their training personally from Karasu herself who is said to be a military genius. She took in several soldiers from several regiments and different backgrounds and she turned them into warriors... no she turned them into absolute war machines.

Unfortunately, she was taken lightly and was never given enough chances to prove herself. From what Naruto suspected, there may have been some general dislike and distrust between Karasu and the Imperial military command.

Naruto blinked as he finally took note of his surroundings. He wasn't in the mine anymore, but instead he found himself in a comfortable bed right next to a roaring fireplace that kept the bedroom a nice and toasty warm room that felt pleasantly comfortable other than the dank, dark cold, dirty pits of the mine.

He also noticed that there seemed to be large lump under the bedsheets… and a hand that was not his was placed right on his collarbone.

'What the...?' Naruto narrowed his eyes and grabbed onto the edges of the duvet and threw them off to reveal something that he was not expecting, nor was he prepared for.

On top of him was a sleeping Karasu who was 90% naked apart from a thin thong that she was wearing that covered her lady parts... albeit barely. It left very little to the imagination as the thin piece of material went in-between the valley of her toned, smooth, shapely buttocks that would mesmerise any man or woman. Although, they would sooner die if she were to catch any person staring at her ass. **(A chibi Karasu appears on the top left corner "Only Naru-kun gets stare at my ass!")**

The rest of her body however was mashed between his half naked body with the only exception of decency that covered his man parts were his plain grey cotton boxer shorts. Her chest along with those magnificent, voluptuous DD orbs were mashed between his rock-solid, defined and well-conditioned pecs that looked to be chiselled out of the richest marble. Her body wasn't anything to scoff at as her lean, military and athletically trained six pack abs were rubbing against his own abs, which were technically trained for a time before he was moved to the mines. His time there had toughened them up due to 2 years of doing the same arduous, exhausting and hard manual labour. Karasu's abs and her muscular structure were strong, dense and tough, yet they were smooth to touch as well as taut when tensed, but still held the soft features that all women seem to have. Her body was very well-conditioned and perfectly balanced, but not overly done like a macho lady taking part in a body building competition.

His eyes looked all over her sexy lean muscular body that also retained her feminine side **(Like Michelle K Davis's body out of Terraformers for comparison, Or Mikasa ackerman's)**. He was not ignorant though. He knew that he should not underestimate her as he had personally witnessed just how much power that she had packed into that firm, lean body of hers. Despite not having the required chakra amounts of being a shinobi. Then came her breasts that were mashed against his pecs and her head resting between the nook of his neck.

Naruto questioned himself on why hadn't he noticed her there earlier. The first thing he saw when waking up was her hand placed on his collar bone while her head was resting in between the nook of his neck and shoulder on his left side. He could feel his face flaring up and lighting up furiously into a bright neon red blush with a blob of blood threatening to shoot out of his nose as he felt her stirring and shifting in her sleep as her hardened nipples were tracing along his pectoral muscles and her abs gliding along his own abs and her butt neared dangerously close to his boxer covered beast that was about to enter her covered lair ( **Hahahaaaaaa!….Bad puns I know).**

Naruto took in a sharp breath and tried to focus on not getting a stiffy at this moment in time, but it was already too late as the morning sunrise had already risen and the morning wood had its early morning duties to attend to and stood up to attention and was now reporting for duty.

Naruto was sweating bullets. His mind was a maelstrom of chaos, trying to figure out why he was in bed with Karasu just lying on top of him almost fully naked. He then suddenly froze when her land left his collar bone and travelled up to his chin and pulled his face to his left and looked into the mesmerising colourful eyes that shone a majestic amber colour that stared lovingly right into his equally mesmerising deep oceanic blue eyes.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." She gave him a genuine kind smile and without her gas mask on that covered the majority of the lower half of her face. Naruto could see the beauty in her as her face was smooth with no marks, blemishes or scars that could ruin her natural beauty. Her lips were a natural pink colour that had no dry skin hanging off of it, considering he saw her wearing that respirator mask for most of the time he saw her down in the mine. Her hair was still swept, back but it looked to have been washed recently as it brought out the sleek glossy shine out of her platinum blonde hair that held more worth to it than a certain blond back at the academy in Konoha.

The close proximity with this woman, was the closest that he has ever been to a woman. He had never been in the same bed with a girl before, but it's not like he knows what a woman looked like underneath all of that clothing… in fact, at first he never knew what the girls looked like underneath their clothing because he would know that Sakura-ch-…san would absolutely pummel him if she caught him staring at her naked. In fact he may have snuck into the Onsen (Hot springs) a few times when he was a young cute child back then… by accident at first. However, a few times he would go in there because he knew that there were some kind and beautiful women and older girls in the Onsen at a certain time and day. They would visit the Onsen and they would make the bad people go away with their feminine fury and fists. At the time he didn't know why they were so kind, they just let him sit in and have soak in the Onsen with them. They would sometimes, or most times, coo at how cute he was when he was an innocent child of a certain age.

The majority of these women were Kunoichi ranging from Chuunin, Tokubetsu Jonin, Jonin and Anbu from young to older. He was later allowed to bathe with them after he pointed out this weird old man who was shamelessly peeking through a hole he made through the fence into the female's side. After a brutal smack down and potential neutering, they thanked Naruto and they always welcomed him into their Onsen sessions.

That was the first time he had seen a woman naked, or several at once, but that was when he was an innocent child and he will admit that several of them were indeed beautiful and pretty. He also may have had a crush on one… or two… or several… if not all of them. Even the older ones that were old enough to be his mother for kami's sake. He was an emotional child back then seeking attention and love, and by the time he was about to enter puberty and his hormones started to act up on him, it was an embarrassing period for him to live through for most boys and girls. Once that happened to him, it started making his body react in certain ways towards those kind and beautiful women and older girls that made him flush at remembering some of the certain situations he had been in.

This situation he was in now was… sudden and unexpected. He knew of Karasu's affection for him even though he didn't quite understand the concept of love just yet. Although, he got the feeling that it was more than that… a lot more. She was madly in love with him, nearly to the point she would be forever loyal to him… but how much loyalty was she willing to give?

"Ka-Ka-Karasu-chan!?" He stammered with a bright red blush while his eyes were darting all over her naked body and didn't know where to look.

She gave him a serene smile along with her eye smile and nodded her head "Hai!~"

"Wha-What happened?" he stammered.

"You mean you don't remember?" she tilted her head before her eyes glinted in mischief. "Oh Naruto-kun how could you not remember!~ you were such a lecherous beast!~" she mock wailed and acted like a damsel who had just been sullied. "After all of those things you did to me! I cannot marry anyone else now as you have ruined me for any other man! You will have to take responsibility from now on Naru-kun~!" she wriggled her body against him and pressed her face against his own, rubbing her cheeks on his.

"Eh-…Ehhh!" he cried out as his face lit an atomic blush as his face dropped in shock and froze for a moment.

"But I don't mind, as long as it's you." She said with such affection and she closed in on his lips and she was about to claim it until…"

"Ka-karasu wait!" Naruto needed a breather and space to calm down, so he pushed her away not too roughly, but gently enough that it didn't throw her off his body. What he did instead was push her further down his body… where the beast was waiting in his tent and went to knock on the front door to her treasure cave.

Naruto froze as he could feel the sensitive tip of his manhood rubbing against her ladyhood that was cocked and loaded and placed in between her buns.

"Ahh!" Karasu moaned as she felt the tip of his manhood almost kissing her pussy lips through the fabric and blinked in surprise as a rosy blush lit up her cheeks, but a seductive smile soon formed on her lips and a sensual tongue glided along it. "My, my… can't wait for round 2, ne?" she teased.

Naruto could take no more and his nose erupted, spurting out a huge glob of blood out his nose which splattered on her breasts that were pressed against his pecs and his head flopped back onto the pillows, knocked out cold.

"Ara?...hmhmhm!" she giggled and shook her head, but she didn't seem to mind the crimson blood staining her breasts… in fact she felt a little worked up down there. "So innocent." She smiled at Naruto and then she reached over to her bedside drawer and got out a small vial and opened it and placed the tip of the vial and waved it directly underneath his nose. With a sudden inhale Naruto instantly woke up, sitting up straight instantly. He clutched onto his nose as hot tears were streaming out of his eyes.

"Gaah! It burns! What is that!?" he yelled, furiously rubbing his irritable and sensitive nose.

"Smelling salts?...Erm? I apologize for doing that. I didn't know your nose was that sensitive." She apologized and looked at him with concern which made Naruto wave off her apology.

"No, no… it's alright I don't blame you… it's just that… I..." he stammered as he blushed again as he caught an eyeful of her exposed breasts.

"Hahaha! Relax Naruto-kun… I was only joking, we didn't do it." she assured him.

"W-We didn't?" he asked almost in relief.

"Yes, you've still got your innocence intact… Although, I wish we did do it after seeing what your body was packing" she flirted with him.

"Eh?" he face faulted and blushed again.

"But… I didn't. If I want my first time with you in my bedroom, it's going to be special and with you conscious and rocking my body all through the night and me unable to move the next morning. It just wouldn't be satisfying for me if I were to do all the work and with you out like a light… but when it comes to this mind you, my chances of that happening are low." She said while getting up and moving towards a chair that had her clothes neatly folded on top of the seat. When she got up she revealed her bright pink erected nipples as well as the firm and soft touch, her DD breast size that adds more to her attractiveness, along with its bounce whilst moving and zero sag that was like it was resistant to gravity.

Naruto fought off the blush this time, albeit barely as well as stopping his nose from spurting blood. In his mind he could've sworn he heard laughing and howling at his expense of being such an innocent boy when it comes to his experience with the opposite sex.

She reached down onto the seat while bending over to show more of her glorious looking ass with the thong stretching and digging deeper inside which made Naruto gulp. She picked out a black tank top that cut off about mid riff and she put on the form fitting top, which showed off her figure greatly with her abs on for show.

She then went over to the kitchen area and turned on the kettle.

"Stay in bed for now Naruto-kun. I would like to talk with you" she said earnestly which made Naruto root himself into the bed as he knew she was now serious. Normally, he would be out of bed in a an instant and run off and out of the hospital when he had recovered even after the stern warnings from the doctors and nurses after his occasional visits from either training or… attacks.

She then returned with a tray with two cups of tea and morning breakfast and returned with the kettle. She poured each cup with hot water and prepared both cups with the exquisite taste of the most exclusive tea she had managed to acquire.

Naruto looked at the box of tea that she had brought in and looked at the brand.

"That looks familiar?" he scrutinized the box.

"You probably might've heard of it or where it came from. We managed to acquire this exquisite tea from the Far East across the ocean from a place that has the most ironic and dumb name for a country as they named it the land of Tea…I mean, I thought our name for this country was bad, but come on." she snorted in amusement. "Apparently this came from a family of tea makers that makes the best kind of tea fit for royalty."

Naruto looked down at his cup and brought the cup to his lips and sipped it. His eyes lit up as he could feel his morning tiredness and exhaustion fading away. "Hey! This is good!" his face lit up with energy as he came to enjoy it along with Karasu sharing his thought.

"I know right? They seriously know how to make good tea… but that's not what I'm here to talk with you about." Her tone notably became more serious which made Naruto flinch a little.

"Naruto… I am glad you are alright. The moment I saw you on the ground wounded, bleeding and unconscious… it made my heart stop for a brief moment as I thought the worst had happened to you. Thankfully, I killed the bastard that dared to harm you. Should've done more, but… I was a bit pressed for time.

After killing that shinobi I dragged you out of that mine before that idiot Kaname brought the entire mine on our heads. While I'm glad he's dead… he got off far too easily in my opinion. He should be dead by my hands at least or maybe yours because you have every right to. He deserved a whole lot worse than collapsing a fucking mine on our heads.

By the time I got you out, you looked quite worse for wear, like you were suffering from something. Your body was growing colder and we didn't know what was affecting you and seeing that we are on a mountain, I had to keep you warm. It turns out according to my best medic that the shinobi used some sort of poison which caused paralysis mixed with a powerful toxin that weakens the body temporarily. The effects last for about 2 weeks which was incredibly potent on your body, but our doctor/medic said that it had somehow been purged from your body through means that even she doesn't know of."

"Oh…I'm sorry to have worried you" Naruto bowed his head feeling ashamed of himself and briefly mentally thinking about a certain Sentient Teigu and Biju who just shrugged in response while the former whistled innocently.

'If only I was stronger, then...' he thought to himself with a frown until he caught onto something. "Wait? Who was the person that knocked me out?"

"You mean, you haven't run into any of those shinobi?" she raised an eyebrow at that, considering they gave her and her subordinates a lot of trouble along the way.

"Shinobi!? They were in the mine!?"

"Calm down Naruto…and yes, I did say what you thought. You remember Kei? The spy that infiltrated my mine that was from Konoha?" she said to him who nodded in return. "Turns out he wasn't alone, he brought a small army with him."

Naruto was sweating nervously as he guessed that they may have had some or a lot of trouble when dealing with those shinobi. He knew that things worked differently here than back home. Even though Karasu is strong and capable of handling them herself, but unlike her, her men were not built like power houses. They may have never faced anything like a shinobi back home, especially an Anbu or whoever they were. Karasu will have a lot of work on her hands in training to deal with shinobi in the future, because he had no doubt they would have suffered a lot of casualties and fatalities, especially the guards and the miners.

"So they were after me? Was it Jiji?"

"Who?" Karasu tilted her head in confusion as to who he meant.

"Sorry, let me rephrase that. I meant the Hokage, the leader of the village."

"Ah… no, it wasn't him, but a shadow organisation within Konoha."

"Nani? But…they were Anbu right?" he asked in confusion at the difference between them.

"I'm not that entirely well informed about your village in general or the elemental nations for that matter, but from what I can tell you from what I gathered from Kei's head were that they were a different faction compared to the likes of these Anbu. They called themselves ROOT and they were led by this old crippled war hawk named Danzo. This old man is a resentful, envious, yet shrewd kind of man that desires power above all else. He believes himself to be a true patriot towards his own village, but causes more problems instead of solving them. He seems to oppose your leader, hates him even, as well as the past leader's ideals and methods of ruling as I can sense that there is some kind of bad blood between the two old relics. He also has a strong belief that emotions will make the individual weaker and he chooses to train men and women into discarding them, but that man is just full of shit as he hasn't discarded his own. Instead, he has simply bottled them up inside. His so called… beliefs of how the shinobi code should be, such as his fanatical and arbitrary adherence to the ideals of a shinobi that should sacrifice everything all for the village, but I can see through his hypocrisy… He fears his own inevitable death.

That kind of man is an extremist, a man who prefers direct actions no matter how wrong they are. he prefers to get rid of threats, as well as taking advantage of an opportunity before they arise through dirty methods, such as assassinations, sabotaging, manipulation, execution, framing and kidnapping, instead of more peaceful solutions like negotiating, and diplomacy, because he never cared for them."

"So then...What were they doing here then if this was not the Hokage's plan? That was no rescue party as I can tell they didn't consider my safety top priority." Naruto asked.

"From what I gathered out of Kei's head, it was to "Reclaim" their weapon. They wanted to use you as a weapon for the village of some sorts… They were mentioning the words demon or Jinchuriki for some reason like it means something. What did they mean by that?"Karasu leaned forward on her chair and looked at Naruto directly into his eyes in scrutiny.

Naruto sweat dropped nervously and would've looked away in reluctance before Prometheus reassured him. 'Give her a chance Naruto-sama. We need to test where her loyalties lie.' She convinced him through a mental almost jumped in shock when hearing the voice in his head. 'Don't look around for the voices and make yourself look suspicious you fool, you'll only make yourself look crazy.' The kyuubi told him sternly.

'Prometheus? Kayo?'

'Hai, it's us. Now, go and tell her… trust me. I've got a good feeling about her.'

Naruto bit his lip and turned his head towards Karasu with a look of seriousness that Karasu found quite charming about him as she looked into those serious blue eyes.

"Karasu, I will tell you everything I know and my past experiences, but in return I want your word that you will tell no one about this." He said with dead seriousness that made Karasu's eyes widened as she had never seen him like this. Although, it was not an unwelcome sight as she quite liked this sudden change about him… it was hot.

She nodded in understanding and smiled. "Just my word?" she tilted her head in amusement. "I think that will not be enough for that Naru-kun."

Naruto frowned, until he heard the next words from out of her mouth. "Instead… once I hear about your story, I'll tell you mine in return, along with keeping your secret." She smiled to him which made him utterly surprised.

"Wait, what?"

"Yep." She nodded. "This will be the first time that I will finally get the chance to really get to know you better. As far as I have known you, we have never really had any chances to talk like this. What with the constant workflow, interruptions in the mines and office work on my end and the hostility of the miners and the brutal and arduous work on yours." She sighed in exasperation as she remembered the stressful and hostile work environment of the mines that she constantly had to put up with.

"When you arrived, I was already on the brink of madness, but you soon became the light that brightened up my day, everyday… and you will remain that way with me from now on… but~…I'll explain later." She teased giving him a bright smiled that was filled with happiness. She then motioned for him to start. "So, are you going to keep me waiting?"

"Ah! Err, right… well…" he cleared his throat and went onto explain his life story.

"When I try to recall my first memory…it all starts in this decrepit, miserable and overcrowded place that was the orphanage. The place was completely packed, because most of the children in there had all lost their parents during an attack that happened 16 years ago."

"16 years? What happened?"

"Well… It started on a specific date that I was always confused by. I am somehow connected to this event because my birthday was on the exact same day of the Kyuubi incident."

"The nine-tailed fox?"

"Yes, it's more than just a coincidence… To you and the people in this empire or continent, you may think of the fox as an class S or higher class of danger beast. However, the fox is nothing like those mindless beasts. The fox is a sentient form of creature known as a Biju. From what I remember, there are at least nine of them back in the eastern continent. One day, without warning, the fox appeared and proceeded to rampage across the village for whatever reason it had at the time… I am not entirely sure on the exact course of events, but it does not make sense to me, as I think that there could have been some other reason why it attacked the village I lived in."

"It could have been revenge?" Karasu suggested.

"Maybe, but I think somebody tried to control it."

"It's not unheard of… I've heard of beast masters tame the mightiest of Danger Beasts and sometimes even demons." Karasu nodded at that logic.

"Right… After the incident came… the aftermath in the upcoming years had become a really bad and depressing time for the village and to a major extent, myself. I was a small child at the time, but I was vaguely aware of what had been going on. A few years after I was born, I was living in the orphanage where the number of orphaned children in the home slowly dwindled to acceptable levels as people who had either lost children or wanted a child but couldn't have one, would go and adopt one or two children from the orphanage. They received plenty of funding due to a campaign set up by the fourth Hokage himself before it was scrapped. The incident had left many children orphaned and the orphanage, along with the rest of the village, were in desperate need of repairs and renovations. They just didn't have the means to support a massive number of children, nor could they afford a whole lot to provide for them. So the Hokage personally saw to it that I was placed in the orphanage that I would soon call home. Furthermore, he personally gave me my monthly stipend and funded the orphanage for a time.

When I was four, I came to realise that perhaps one of the only kind people in the orphanage was the matron. She was a kind, young, 21 year old woman who inherited her mother's orphanage before she passed away due to a disease, because she was unable to afford the medicine. She was the only one who actually looked after me personally, as well as four other nurses that she handpicked herself. In addition to myself, they would treat everyone with equal kindness, attention and love. From what I remember, she looked after me when she was just 18-19… but on my 5th birthday… she disappeared along with the other nurses.

I didn't understand at the time. I thought that they abandoned me and everyone else... and then I came to realize that they had been replaced on the orders of this… civilian council with an older matron who was in her late 50's. She was a stiff and bitter old woman who lost many things she held dear during that incident a few years back... and that was when I soon began to question my existence. I noticed things that the adults in the orphanage previously had never done before. I picked up on several things that were different about them… the negative emotions that were aimed at me by the matron and the new nursing staff. Everything changed in the orphanage, my life there had become a living hell for a whole year when that old bat took charge. Everything that the last matron taught us was shot down by her as she began to teach them her own biased views on society. As a result, she was able to change the opinions of most of the children and got them to act against me. She told them twisted lies and enforced strict rules dominated by her biased and bitter views, which she used to rule over them with an iron fist.

Pretty soon most of the children forgot the previous matron and followed the teachings of the old matron like lost sheep, either out of fear or because of some blind, and dumb manipulation. Fortunately, despite her biased teachings, I never forgot some of the words that the previous matron told me... and I made sure that they weren't forgotten.

"Don't let fear, hate or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love..." And most importantly, "be kind to others, even if you don't like them, because they might be suffering inside. Kindness is a gift that shouldn't be wasted or tread upon. Because sometimes… All it takes is one wrong action that spits upon the kindness you have given them, then they will come to realise that they will not be spared anymore kindness in their inevitable end".

"Wise words from a powerless woman." Karasu nodded but at the same time seethed silently to herself.

"She was indeed wise and kind for her young age. She knew a lot more than most and held more kindness in her heart other than the bitter old matron that corrupted the hearts and minds of the children in the orphanage. The children soon forgot the teachings the young matron had told them and they soon turned against me. The matron didn't do anything and sometimes she encouraged it as she watched on with some sense of sick enjoyment. She never paid me any attention, she moved me into the basement with a dirty mattress on the floor that was worn out and the whole room was pitch black. The meals were sometimes spiked, but I quickly became used to them and their effects over me began to wane. As a result, she instead took my meals away and tried to starve me instead. I stubbornly pushed on despite my body going through malnutrition and I would always try and find my own food by sneaking into the pantry. However, there were a few times when I got caught by her and she would punish me harshly. I remember how her punishments were sometimes brutal, cruel and humiliating. First, I would get the standard punishment by a thin cane she crafted herself to whip the bad children with if they stood out of line… and there were no other bad children in the orphanage... only me.

I lost count on how many whippings I received by the injustice and unfairness of her punishment system. The previous matron was never harsh with hers, she would only scold us and would give us some words of inspiration. Her words were so inspiring that they made us want to make up for our wrongs. However, once the old hag came in, the children came to realise that I was the scapegoat to all of their problems and would shift them all towards me. Those children soon grew up to become bullies, liars, and overall bad people in general. There were only two orphans that I befriended in that orphanage, but soon enough they too left, because they had the chance to go to new homes with loving families. I didn't want to ruin that chance for them so I chose to let them go. I was soon on my own in the orphanage… and then it became worse."

"?" Karasu raised her head and continued listening; all the while she was grasping onto the cup tightly, but was being careful not to break it.

"On my sixth birthday, there were these loud noises going on outside of the orphanage. It was a festival, I was excited and curious about it. I wanted to go, but it was already late and we were too young to go out at night. Plus, the matron didn't care for the festival. She hated it, so she placed a curfew for all of us and forbade us from going, saying that we were too young to go at this time… so I snuck out through the front door and left to go see what this festival was all about.

When I arrived, it was chaotic and quite overwhelming as the atmosphere of the festival was very loud and ecstatic. There were many rows of stalls selling food, games to entertain everyone, souvenirs to take home with you, they had everything. There was even the third Hokage who was personally telling stories to awe inspired kids my own age, and even some who were a bit older. He told the story of how the Yondaime Hokage had defeated and killed the fox demon. The looks on their faces were shimmering in awe and inspiration and I could see it that they too wanted to become a great ninja like him one day.

At one point during the story, the Sandaime looked over in my direction and looked surprised for some reason. At the time, I didn't quite understand his reason for acting so surprised when he saw me. I thought that I did something to offend him so I quickly left to avoid more trouble. I explored the festival for a little while longer and I came to realise that the mood of the festival had shifted. While the people who were tourists were having the time of their lives, the locals were glaring at me from the corners of their eyes. Some were openly doing it because they had drank a bit too much booze. I remember the darkness in their eyes, holding so much resentment for me. I didn't know what was wrong or why they were acting like that.

A little while later, the mood shifted again and I began to hear words aimed at me behind my back. They were trying to whisper it under their breaths, but some were louder and clearer than others. They said bad, hurtful, cruel things. Some of them I did understand what they meant, as I was too young at them time. They said words like Demon, fox brat, the fox's reincarnation and some others that were more for hurting me personally like pointing out that I was an orphan. They made their own judgements on who my parents really were even if they did not know them personally and insulted them behind my back. I felt so angry, frightened and vulnerable. Even if I did not know who my parents were, I could not take them insulting them.

So I did the responsible thing and just walked away, like what every parent tells their child if they are getting bullied or harassed. My case was different. I was made a target by the whole village. Everywhere I looked, there was some form of open hostility the moment they recognised me. Even the drunks were starting to get riled up by my presence. Some were starting to get aggressive… so I ran back to the orphanage.

When I returned, I noticed that all of my belongings were thrown out in the trash. I walked up to the door and tried to open it, but it was futile. The matron had locked me out and evicted me from the orphanage. I didn't know what else to do as I knew it would be pointless to argue and rage about it... so I gathered all that I could carry and I left the area."

 ***Crack!***

Naruto looked over to Karasu who had now poked a finger through her tea cup and the cup shattered spilling hot tea over her hand and onto the floor. The hot tea didn't even faze her but he could tell she was pissed off with his story of his past.

"Karasu… that was not even the worst part."

She shifted her eyes back towards his own. They narrowed, but insisted for him to carry on.

"The drunks from before had followed me home and ambushed me in the streets. They then dragged me into an alleyway. Their intentions were clear as they desired to harm me in any way they could. They called me hurtful names, cursed at me, shouted at me, hit me and even tortured me in that alleyway… but I could tell that they were holding back. For some reason they took some sort of sick pleasure in harming me, a six year old boy. They just… enjoyed it and they even laughed.

I never felt so much pain before. I wanted them to stop. I cried and I begged for them to stop, but my pleas only made them angrier and more violent. One of them shouted, "Demons don't deserve forgiveness, not after what you have done". I knew he meant me when he said that but I responded back at him. "But I don't know what I've done? What excuse do you have for attacking a child?" that response earned me a kick to the face and angry curses. They were strongly denying my claims and pleas that I was innocent in all this. The beating I received became so bad that my body couldn't deal with the strain of the force from the punches and kicks, as well as them using whatever crude weapons they could get their hands on. They were too far into their drunken rage that they were actually determined to kill me. After one of them struck me with a pipe to the head, I blacked out. The next thing, I remember was opening my eyes to a white hospital room lying in a comfortable bed."

Naruto could feel a rising killing intent from Karasu but he continued anyways.

"It turns out I was brought to the hospital and into my own room, which actually became my personal room every time I visited the hospital. I was brought to the hospital by the Sandaime Hokage who was also trying to find me that night. I soon began to call him Jiji as he was like my very own grandfather. Despite being the leader of the largest and most powerful of shinobi villages in the elemental nations, he couldn't protect one child.

"Couldn't or wouldn't?" she asked

"A bit of both, I think?" Naruto frowned grimly

Karasu scowled at that. She was really beginning to dislike Konoha a whole lot more, even moving closer to pass the borders of hate… or the ship has already sailed past that area.

"Ever since he re-took the position of Hokage again after the Yonadaime died during the incident, he was not the same as he used to be back in his prime. He was known as the Kami no Shinobi back in his prime. He is the longest serving Hokage to date, but he doesn't hold a candle to the Shodaime and the Nidaime Hokages. The fourth was said to be the strongest, but I actually think of him to be the most skilled one.

The Hokage is a title of most powerful shinobi in the village. A title where you have total command and leadership of the village's military and its infrastructure. However, things changed after the incident with the Kyuubi and the Third Shinobi War."

"What happened?"

"It was a power grab basically. You had the elders who wanted what was best for the village. They performed actions that they claimed were in the village's best interests and ensured that it remained at the top. The elders even resorted to using dirty underhanded methods to get rid of certain people that would dare oppose them or threaten their peace and their so called… authority. The elders were supposed to only serve advisory roles, but they overstepped their boundaries to get in on the action and acquired their own power over the council. Also ever since you mentioned him, I remember that Danzo Shimura is part of this council too. I think he is the shadow part in this power struggle. Jiji did mentioned him a few times, saying that he was also considered for the role of Hokage, but the Nidaime chose Sarutobi-Jiji to take up the role of Hokage. Probably because he was his student and every single Hokage has roots that lead them back to the first Hokage who was of the Senju clan. The rest were either students of a student that was taught by a Senju."

Karasu nodded in understanding as to why Danzo was so resentful.

"The other two elders were Jiji's previous teammates Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, but they had fallen far from grace. They would at times favor a more militant approach over the Hokage's peaceful approaches to dealing with certain situations and would sometimes go against the Hokage's orders. They frequently sided with Danzo's patriotic ideals instead, which I think involves ways that will cause more problems than actually solve them.

Then there is the civilian council, lapdogs for the Elder council, who act as a buffer zone to void some of the decisions. They would often overstep their boundaries and interfere with shinobi matters which shouldn't be allowed. They are supposedly "the voice" of Konoha's people." He said in disgust.

"So the village went all democratic?" Karasu asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"That may have been the intent at first, but it's supposed to be a dictatorship where the Hokage is the absolute power. Now he is nothing more than a figurehead and the council can actually override his decisions if they don't agree with it, or if it goes against their beliefs. Most of the politics that they always discuss and plot about is getting rid of me through the political approach or just outright killing me."

"Mmm" Karasu nodded in understanding and annoyance. "Democracy doesn't work the way you want it to and it never has. It's difficult for democracy to function properly under the most favorable circumstances, but it has no chance at all when there are millions of people. Even a majority who vote and the minority in power, they are just split up from the objective reality and are incapable of truly understanding what is really going on and how things really should be solved. It happens to a lot of governments that practice that concept.

In a highly centralized and military based government like Konoha, those civilian councilors don't really know what is truly going on. The council can't possibly make informed choices, and even their elected civilian representatives don't have, nor can they use the time to understand more than the basics of most of the legislations. In the midst of all their ignorance, the majority of the civilian population become perilously susceptible to fear mongering, misinformation, the formation of protests or angry mobs and blind partisanship. This isn't exactly a new state of affairs for me as I have seen this kind of thing before. It happens almost anywhere that has democracy, but the problem has become acute nowadays. Even in the Empire, which does not follow much of the concept of democracy. I will admit that it has its own share of many flaws. The difference between the two is that imperialism is susceptible to the oppression of the majority of the people. It leaves them weak and docile so that they won't rise up against the minority in power. Even nearby kingdoms are not safe from this if they have something they want, a weak country boarding an empire would most likely be a target and the empire will bring it down to its knees through invasion and then subjugation. The Emperor, the Prime Minister, the military and the politicians have the power to do what they want with the country and it's military. On the other hand democracy offers less power and can always be held back by votes from representative parties and the people who have differing opinions. The people can be manipulated quite easily to their side of the table and feeding them lies and/or misinformation.

What I believe Konoha is currently going through is political instability, where you are mistreated because a large majority of the population is oppressing you because of the power they managed to snatch up some how. Meanwhile, the small minority who either doesn't agree with them or is simply different from them are pretty much left powerless to stop it. As a result, there is little that they can do about it to solve these problems. It happens in several countries that follow democracy. Even the Empire is not exempt from this, where a small minority of people are discriminated against because of differences that split them apart from the norm. I don't know why these sorts of people do this. is it some sort of sense of superiority or some sort of age old grudge that they haven't learned to let go of? Who really knows?

This civilian council that is in control of the majority of public opinions are schemers. They will twist, bend, and manipulate the morals and opinions of others in ways that fit their ideals and what they believe should represent the people of Konoha, whether it be through peaceful resolutions or prejudiced hatred. This is the sad truth about democracy. These type of people, this so called… honourable council or the elite class of people, were the ones that encouraged the villagers' hatred against you because of some sort of grudge that somehow involves you. However, they failed to look what's underneath the covers, to search for the truth and to do their own research before jumping to conclusions. Therefore, the people's moral opinion decays over time if you let the rot settle into their minds and you let them become stupid. If you ignore it for too long then they become blind fools that can't tell the difference between right and wrong. It's like cancer in a way... ignore it for too long and then the damage is irreparable."

"… You seem to know a lot about this... Have you ever experienced these things yourself?" Naruto asked of her.

"Naruto… when you become a commanding officer in the Empire, you become no stranger to corruption. It is everywhere nowadays. Also, I happen to know of your current situation."

"Really? How?"

"When I interrogated that Root shinobi, I had one of my interrogators, Mr Townsend, look into his mind."

"Like the Yamanaka clan?"

"Who?"

"Well… they're a clan of people who have a bloodline power that allows them to telepathically enter one's mind. They can either take control of said body or traverse through the mindscape in search of specific memories."

"Hmm?…you learn something new every day. Well, I can tell you that the artificial Teigu, a downgraded version of what is called a Shingu, that Mr Townsend used was actually an almost exact copy of an existing Teigu called "Spectator". However, I mentioned that it was a downgraded version, as it only specialises in a certain area, which is to search through memories and replay them like a recorded video. It also has the power to predict the fates of certain people. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all suited for combat. It was strange though... When Mr. Townsend had used his Teigu on you just after he was evacuated from the area, he looked as if he was going through a heart attack from the sheer terror he experienced before he fainted from shock."

Naruto resisted the urge to look away awkwardly before he heard the snickers in his mindscape from a certain foxy lady and a sentient Teigu. He frowned slightly before he continued.

"Anyways, due to the Hokage's lack of spine to actually take control of the village, public opinion and morality deteriorated rapidly. Even some of the shinobi, who are supposed to have more common sense than the rest of the villagers, were affected. The clan heads and the shinobi council were the ones in charge of the shinobi forces and it's infrastructure that is beneficial to shinobi and the clans. Pretty much nearly all of them are in support of me, except for a few clansmen and women, as well as a large majority of two clans. One being mostly gone now due to genocide from one of their own clansmen for whatever reason."

"Hn." Karasu shrugged. 'Nothing new there. Esdeath-chan had her clan purged too, but it didn't bother her… at least, I think it didn't?'

"But because of certain laws, it prevented me from getting the support and care that I needed and wanted all my life. There were people from within the other clans that wanted to adopt me, but due to reasons that I didn't know and wasn't informed of… it wasn't allowed. There were even people from civilian backgrounds who tried to adopt me, but they were also denied or threatened by the civilian council who are in control of civilian affairs. Apparently this also concerned me as I was considered a civilian in their eyes.

The solution it came to was that I was given my own apartment personally by the Sandaime. It wasn't even a nice one. The area wasn't particularly known to be safe and was located in one of the worst parts of Konoha, the red light district."

That made Karasu frown even further. You just don't give an apartment to a child in an unsafe area to live on his own. She knew what it was like in those types of districts. Even the Empire had its own fair share of crime infested slums and red light districts that corrupt government officials and soldiers neglected and went to get drunk, win big, and fuck as many prostitutes as they liked… it made her sick at how incompetent they were to waste their time in such places, while also neglecting their duties.

"While the red light district itself wasn't the nicest of places, it did have it its own share of good people. They were outcasts like me, disgraced ex-shinobi and kunoichi that were forsaken by Konoha's shinobi council that failed them and were then shunned by the people. There were some yakuza gangs that could make your life hell, but also make you feel like the safest person in the district. So long as you don't double cross them.

Finally, there were the working girls on the streets, brothels and geisha houses that were like the older sisters that I never had. They looked out for me and I also did a few favors for them in return for some lessons. The ex-shinobi taught me survival skills, weapons training, taijutsu and also helped me with my basic studies. The working girls taught me how to gain information out of certain individuals as well as some… skills and tips when handling girls?" he said while nervously scratching his whiskered cheek that had a hint of a blush to it (Karasu's eyebrows twitched at that), "and the yakuza boss taught me street smarts, trade, gambling and even showed me how things are run in the village, the yakuza family and all sorts of stuff."

"You know, its pretty ironic that you perceived these types of people as being good, considering that they are recognized in nearly every society as bad influences and worthless trash." Karasu chuckled at the irony.

"It happens far too often that the majority of people judge others too harshly by appearance alone. They never even bother to learn what they are like underneath their initial exterior."

"True… but it can also lead to a grim truth about certain people you thought you could trust."

"Y-Yeah… that has almost happened to me on some occasions."

"You don't need to explain, just carry on with the story." Karasu ushered him on

"Right… life in my new apartment wasn't any better in the orphanage. If anything, it was worse, because I lived in constant fear of the people. I was afraid that if I went outside into the village then they would follow me back home and attack me.

But, I was wrong about that... eventually they did manage to find out where I lived and they soon began to make my life a living hell for the next 6 years. They vandalized, broke in, graffitied both the inside and outside of my apartment and they even tried to burn it down until the Anbu stopped them."

"Where were the shinobi in all of this?"

"There is a huge divided opinion among them that involves me. There are a small number of people that I consider important and precious to me, but they couldn't be there for me all the time to save me. The rest of the shinobi forces either hated me or were completely neutral or simply didn't care about me. Nonetheless, they didn't want to get involved in such a big mess to deal with. The others either hated me as much as the villagers or they were bribed to ignore their duties involving me by the civilian and elder councillors. At worse times, I may have been forced to occasionally deal with an assassin or two."

"What!" she immediately stood up from her seat leaking killing intent and ripped off the armrests from her chair. "Get to the point! Why do they want to kill you so badly!? Because I'm not seeing why you are such a threat to them, when you are something you're clearly not and so much better than them." Karasu growled clearly agitated.

"C-calm down Karasu-chan… I'm getting to that part." Naruto ushered for her to calm down which she did and sat back down to listen to his story.

"I wondered why I was hated for years, the stares, the name callings, the curses, the shoves, the accusations, the shunning and the attacks. I asked the Sandaime Hokage for answers many times as to why I was hated, as well as anything involving my parents." He said and he briefly noticed a slight narrowing of the eye when the word parents were mentioned. "and his answers were **"Give them time"** or **"I don't know who they are"** … those were the exact type of words I heard from him every single damned time." Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Was he lying?"

"Somehow, I knew he was, not only about my parents, but also why the civilians hated me so much. I knew that the villagers were often quite loose lipped once drunk and they sometimes mentioned either the words demon and fox before they were forced to disappear before the ANBU arrived.

I had my suspicions that my birthday on the 10th of October 16 years ago was the key. It was too much of a coincidence that I was born on the exact day that the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. It wasn't until recently that I found out the truth." Naruto bit his lip and looked away for a brief moment, while Karasu leaned forward, anticipating the words he was going to say.

"I'm… I'm a jinchuriki… a human sacrifice to a Biju, a container to the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Karasu blinked in surprise. "So… you're like a host?" said Karasu utterly bewildered.

"Something like that, but the fox was sealed inside of me. Apparently I can draw upon her power." Naruto siad still feeling rather uncomfortable at confessing, but when he looked her in the eyes he didn't see fear or repulsion, but genuine curiosity, respect and indifference about the fact he contained a colossal tailed beast sealed in his gut that can destroy mountains..

"Wait?… her?" Karasu noticed something.

"Yes… for some reason she turned into a woman."

"Nani? You mean she wasn't originally female." She said in confusion.

"I don't understand it either… the fox is part of a gigantic sentient mass of chakra that split along with eight other tailed beasts. Her tail number is nine so she is the most powerful among them. At first I thought they didn't have a specific type of gender… what's the word?"

"Genderless?"

"That'll do!" Naruto shrugged.

" **Hey! Don't just go assuming my gender! It's not my fault that you idiot humans just assumed I was male by the deep tone of my voice in my fox form! And FYI we Biju don't necessarily need genders. This bitch right here just permanently turned me in a human female."** Kayo protested

" _Not really, I can turn you back_." Prometheus interjected

" **... Would you?** "

" _No… you look better this way. Besides, making you into a human male kitsune would just look weird. You would just look too effeminate and honestly it's just not in my tastes_."

Kurama grumbled to herself. **"What about the blonde kit? What do you think of him?** "

" _Oh… I've got a clear idea of what he would look like if he were to receive training from us and possibly Karasu… ohoho yes, me like._ " She said perversely and licking her lips as she made a prediction of what he would look like when he was older and better conditioned after receiving exceptional training.

Naruto immediately tuned them out before his mind devolved into more embarrassing squabbles.

"I learned that I was made to be a sacrifice for the village, by having the fox sealed into me. It was the Yondaime's decision that had robbed me of the normal life that I could've had." he said while looking away with a frown, his fists clenched so tightly they drew blood.

"... Would you really want to live a normal life when somebody else has inherited the burden instead of you? Would you risk becoming like one of those ignorant and prejudiced people that ostracises and bullies that person out of some petty grudge and for no good reason other than blind hatred, or some sense of arrogant superiority over them?" Karasu asked him.

Naruto frowned and turned back to look at Karasu in the eye. "No… I understand why I was chosen to carry this burden… I was meant to be seen as a hero by my people according to the Yondaime. He strongly believed that his people would look up to me as a hero for holding the fox at bay."

"….What the fuck was he on?" Karasu scoffed at the sheer ridiculous thought of that man's naivety. "He cannot be serious? The world does not work that way. If it did, we would all be in a better world by now. We wouldn't be stuck with these bloody problems. The majority of the common people cannot just forgive and forget a catastrophic event involving a gigantic sentient force of nature that possibly killed off hundreds or thousands of people along with their homes, businesses, as well as anything and everything else that they considered precious to them. He honestly expected them to understand why a child is containing it? That is just asking for trouble! What happens if you break the container? I'm not that accustomed to the east's ways of life as a shinobi, nor do I know chakra that well, but even I know that you are not the fox. Also… where, when and how did you learn of this?" she expressed her opinion on the matter as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Erm… from the fox hi-herself." He answered

" **Fuck you!** " Kayo cursed at him.

" _Hahahaha!_ " Prometheus laughed at her undignified expression before Kayo pounced on her.

"And from another… source." Naruto mentally sweat dropped at their antics.

"Naruto… who is that source you are referring to? You're going to have to be more specific than that." Karasu said sternly as she narrowed her eyes as they glinted. Naruto gulped and his shoulders shrank. 'well… no use hiding it from her.'

"This is also another reason why I don't want anyone finding out about this." He said with reluctance.

"You already have my word that I won't be informing anyone... Although I would prefer if you were to stay by my side." Karasu stated.

"I'll consider it… but the reason why is that… you remember when I brought up the topic about Teigu when we were having dinner together in your private quarters in the control tower?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Well the reason is that… I found one down in the mines."

"Oh you mean this." Karasu said before she brought out an amulet dangling by a chain in her left hand that had been lying on a table next to her.

"Wha…" Naruto deadpanned as he saw that she had the Teigu in her hand.

"Before you ask, I'm not intending to confiscate it from you. There would be no point because, i suspect that this Teigu has already chosen you as its wielder. It also explains why you were so curious about the Teigu earlier."

"Yeah… well about that Teigu… it's alive." Naruto admitted.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked curiously.

"It has its own mind, emotions and feelings."

"You mean, it's sentient?...Sugoi! You really are an interesting man aren't you Naru-kun" she praised him and eye smiled along with her mouth in joy before she passed the Teigu over to Naruto who caught it. "So what is it and does it do? It's no weapon, so it must be a support type of Teigu." She asked.

"From what she told me… she calls herself the "Flames of Creation: Prometheus."

Karasu's eyes opened wide in shock and choked on air as she heard the name. "Y-y-you're not serious!... are you?"

"No… I am dead serious. That is her name and she has the powers to forge almost anything. Most of these creations happen to weapons that I have never seen or heard of. With her hep, I can create them out of nothing, but my own energy using the flames of creation. She also said something about stealing the fires from mount Olympus or something like that in a mythological story or something. There were other mentions about her that mentioned that she was also said to have been named the "Black Star"" Naruto pondered to himself while he was unaware that Karasu's facial expression morphed from her shocked expression to one of awe, lust, admiration and glee.

She jumped off her chair and glomped Naruto, slamming him back into the bed and mashed her breasts into his face. "You are the most amazing man I have, no, I will ever meet that has such godlike luck!" She cheered and started to rub her cheeks on his head and wrapped her strong lean arms around his neck affectionately.

"Wha…What do you mean?" Naruto stammered as he blushed furiously at the closeness of his face mashed between her heavenly soft breasts tucked in behind her tank top.

She got over her moment of excitement and gave him the Teigu and placed it firmly in his hand. "That Teigu is legendary among all other Teigu. It is also said to be the most dangerous, depending on whose hands it's in. With a Teigu like that, you will do many great things! That's the reason why I'm always here in this shitty mine. Now I have another and better reason to leave so I can tell my father to go fuck himself because I found the Teigu that he was so desperately looking for before he even had a chance… until he was killed." she cheered and laughed.

Naruto gulped and decided to ask the riskiest question of the week. "Karasu… what do you think of the Empire… in general?"

Karasu paused in her moment of glee at the question and pushed Naruto gently away from her and looked him in the eye in question and scrutiny. "Where is this coming from?"

"I just want to know… what do you think of the Empire? Because I don't want to be the bystander anymore, I want to do something."

Karasu then clutched onto his shoulder firmly and tightly that made him wince slightly. "That sounds almost close to a revolutionary speaking Naru-kun… I would be very careful of what you say around me regarding them. For your sake, I hope those revolutionary scum haven't brainwashed you in some way" she stared at him with an icy glare as her tone became cold and venomous.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in defiance and objection, "They've done nothing to me. They were the ones who blew up the elevator shaft on floor 13 with me still in the elevator. They had hopes of killing me while I was in it. I have no reason to join the revolutionary army, nor do I have a reason to join the Empire. I just want your honest opinion about this Empire."

Karasu's glare softened, she exhaled and nodded in understanding. Although she was still slightly put off by his comment and also angered by the actions of that damned revolutionary Kaname "I suppose that's fair… you've told me your story so I shall tell you mine.

… to answer your question of what I think of the Empire that I was born in… Well, I love my country for one… but I don't like how it's being run. The Empire used to be a proud and prosperous nation that I was raised to believe in, but I never saw any of the shining examples I was taught and led to believe in. There was no honour, there is a severe lack of a true sense of nobility, and there was nothing that I could respect or make me feel proud to be living in this twisted mockery that overshadowed a once great empire.

Today, it is being run by a child emperor who ascended to a throne that he won by staking a claim of succession only with the help of the shrewd and underhanded tactics of the current prime minister, Honest. That fat bastard now serves as his right hand man, advisor and Prime Minister of the Empire and Imperial Affairs. Emperor Makoto is not an ideal leader. He is incompetent and unfit to rule such a powerful nation. He means well, although he has idealistic thoughts and wishes for a brighter future for his people and always wishes to help with a kind and cheerful smile on his face. Unfortunately, he is too easily trusting because of the influence of that fat pig Honest and that is what makes him weak.

Contrary to his name, Honest is anything, but an honest, kind old man. He is wicked by nature and is a heartless, cruel and sadistic human being that enjoys mentally torturing people with his sense of authority. He has made no contributions towards this country that benefits it, only driving it further into the grave. He has no care for anyone but himself. He is a supremacist that will do almost anything to get himself more power, regardless of the atrocities and consequences made to the empire.

Because of him, and to an extent Makoto, The Empire has been in decline and it is falling faster with every passing day. If things keep going this way, then the Empire will eventually collapse if something is not done. The one obvious solution that everyone has turned to is to join the biggest opposition against the empire today, The Revolutionary army. However, I refuse to join a band of renegades who know absolutely nothing of how the Empire works. Even of they managed to get rid of the prime minister and the current emperor, that does not mean that the next leader that they have placed in charge will not be as evil and corrupt as the previous one. Did they not think of that scenario? What happens after you get rid of the linchpins of the Empire?... Anarchy, that's what. They would be scrambling around the bucket and scraping out of what's left of the Empire's remaining power that they would be grabbing as much of it as they can acquire so that they can take charge of the power this country holds over this continent. Even the Empire's neighbors and enemies to the north, west and south won't pass up an opportunity for a power grab or an invasion to reacquire territory that they lost due to a dispute that led to war or all of the resources they so desired that we currently hold. What makes a revolution a better option? It is not how it should be solved. It will just throw our country into further confusion and chaos because they will be fighting against each other on who gets what or who leads the country afterwards, and not everyone will be satisfied with the results after the revolution. There will be a sense of unity afterwards, it'll all go down the drain before greed show it's ugly face again" She gritted her teeth together in frustration.

"Then why not get rid of the problem itself within?" Naruto offered his thought.

Karasu only lightly scoffed, "If only it were that simple. Makoto and Honest have absolute political immunity and Makoto won't listen to anyone, but Honest. Also, if you go against Honest… well chances are you can kiss your life goodbye as well as your family and anything and anyone you love and hold dear because you will never be seeing either of them again. Not to mention that he is also protected by the Empire's strongest military commanding officers and generals that protect the Empire from internal and external oppositions. Thus, assassinations are next to impossible unless you are prepared to die and you had a whole army to invade the capital and the palace.

My Superior officer, Great General Budo, is one of the strongest, most feared and most respected general in the imperial military. He is the one who has the most loyalty to the throne that is fiercer than a hundred suns. The only problem is that he is aware of the state that the Empire is in, but he is very unlikely to do anything about it. He hates Honest, but he would rather die in a great battle than to let anyone else usurp the throne. He will protect the emperor and the throne with his last dying breath whether it be the revolutionary army, uprisings or assassins. So an alliance with Budo for the revolutionaries is next to impossible because he feels the same way I do about those renegades… Esdeath?… She, is another story, but a possibility if done right. Why are you asking me this anyway?"

"Because… I want to change this country… No… the world."

Karasu tilted her headed in curiosity and she leaned forward in interest "How?"

Naruto looked her in the eyes with a look of strong determination. "Because the world is always in chaos, discord, disarray, suffering, deceit and poverty that is always running rampant constantly. I used to have a dream that I wanted to become the Hokage and gain acknowledgment and respect from the village that shunned me. But I have came to realize that the dream of running one small hidden village that will never accept me is just wishful thinking. They got rid of me just because they thought they could get rid of me through an envoy from this empire because they wanted slaves in return for a simple trade deal." Naruto explained

Karasu narrowed her eyes for a moment before she tilted her head in thought. 'When did that happen?' she thought

"I came to realize that gaining their acknowledgment was next to impossible. The adults, the teenagers and the elders that were present during the incident 16 years ago knows what I contain and I think that they were forbidden from ever mentioning it to the children so they wouldn't blindly hate me like the adults did. Unfortunately, the children soon emulated the hatred that was aimed at me and they soon found it acceptable to bully and torment me during my childhood even if they didn't know why, but they never asked themselves or others why.

Because of my isolation and blatant ostracizing, I desired acknowledgment. I wanted to be known and I wanted to be heard… so I made myself the fool, a prankster. I would occasionally prank the whole village including the whole shinobi forces like pour itching powder into the Anbu uniforms, replace the Hyuuga's kimonos with bright pink colored ones including their underwear, and even graffiti the Hokage face monument in broad daylight with nothing but a few cans of paint and a bright orange jumpsuit that I used to wear all the time till I was at the age of 12-13. I pranked everyone with all kinds of pranks that most cannot repeat in the same way I did. I was never caught in the act nor was I caught for hours while the shinobi chased after me, because I had higher stamina than them. Not even the Anbu could catch me. Although I will admit that I was always caught by this one chunnin who was my academy instructor during my final year at the academy and he was the fairest one. After all of the pranking I did, all It took was a lot of trial and error at first but I had the stealth skills that could've landed me a position in the shinobi forces, even Anbu …but nobody ever acknowledged me and just brushed me off and only thought of me as the pariah, the demon brat and the Dobe."

"Dobe?" Karasu questioned the meaning behind it.

"It means the dead last of the academy students and the genin graduates. If you score the lowest in your exams or your overall grade is at the bottom of the ranking table then that name will stick to you like a disease and nobody ever acknowledges or respects a dead last. On that night, if my fellow Konoha nin didn't betrayed me through that pretty obvious trap that Mizuki-teme laid out and I actually managed to pass the graduation exam somehow, I would still be seen as the dead last." He explained and frowned at the memories of the betrayal.

Karasu frowned at that piece of information. "Surely you weren't that bad as they thought you to be?"

"I'm not… if anything I could've scored the top ten at least, but a lot has changed since the civilian council rose to power. The academy now focuses more on academics rather than skill and they lowered the requirements to make it easier for civilian children to be accepted. The problem with that is that once that was declared, it made it easier for any of the children, or anyone that is related to the councillors such as their sons, daughters, siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces, or they were fangirls or fanboys that had an obsession with the clans rookie shinobi/kunoichi of the year.

"Nani?" Karasu voice hitched in her throat and her eyes shadowed to a darker shade. Naruto looked at Karasu for a brief moment and gained a look of understanding.

"Ah… you too?"

"H-Hai…Unfortunately, I was a victim of that too back in my military academy days, as well as my best friend."

"Esdeath?"

"Yeah…" she sweat dropped at the amount of trouble that those types of individuals were worth. That is until Esdeath and herself threatened to kill them because they simply annoyed them both.

"Right… anyways, a large majority of my class were actually a lot weaker than me and I could easily thrash them during sparring sessions and the majority of the clan children and shinobi born children would provide a better challenge, but I was always paired up against the rookie of the year."

"Was he strong?" Karasu asked.

"He's good I'll admit, but he's also incredibly arrogant. He's strong in a sense only because he was born into a prestigious clan that he had the major advantage over most of the class. He had everything handed to him on a silver platter by people wanting to get on his good side by kissing his ass all because he's the last loyal Uchiha. His clan was nearly brought to extinction because of a genocide that happened a few years back by one of their own clan members. With his clan mostly gone, his mentality had deteriorated into a strong obsession for revenge, power, self-deluded arrogance and two cases that I never thought would be possible, but he has both superiority and inferiority complexes."

"Huh?... No seriously?... How is that possible?" Karasu was surprised that there was someone who was actually that screwed up in the head.

"I think it had something to do with his clan. A large majority of them had sticks up their asses and they were only famous because one of their own was one of the co-founders of Konohagakure. Because of that, their beliefs in their bloodline ability focused in their eyes, the "Sharingan". They are like a Teigu in a way, but are exclusive to those that were born into the clan. This deluded them into thinking that they were invincible and the strongest clan among the other clans. As a result, they always demand total respect. Even he does it when he actually hasn't really done anything to earn it. The truth is that they're not what they claimed to be. They became over reliant on their eyes, which have the ability to steal and copy their opponents moves and abilities and implement them as their own. All of the hard work that people have put into working and harnessing their abilities only to have someone else steal it and learn it instantly. However, the effectiveness of the abilities they steal is diminished, because they haven't truly mastered it."

Karasu clicked her tongue in slight disgust. "A tool that copies what it sees huh? And because of this he is treated as their prince while you were treated as a monster… a degenerate?"

"Yes… and you know what, he never even appreciated the things that were thrown his way. They gave him respect, top quality tools and equipment, adoration, admiration, hell even the fangirls would likely give themselves over to him because of his title of the 'last Uchiha'. They even gave him access to exclusive jutsu, and everything else that he could possibly need, want or demand for… and not one ounce of gratitude was given in return. He never cared about anything, but himself and always desired more power "

"Humph! He would love it here then." Karasu stated and Naruto looked over at her with a questioning look. "No, I'm being serious. A majority of our politicians and military leaders are incompetent, power hungry tyrants that take what they want and give nothing in return. He would fit right in." she smirked and Naruto grimaced.

"Sometimes I wonder why they sent me here. They believed that this was a place fit for monsters and demons, when they themselves are what they claim me to be." Naruto frowned to himself, but was then brought out of his thoughts when he felt Karasu place her hands on his shoulders and gripped them softly and firmly.

"Naruto, who cares about them? The world is filled with monsters in human skin. No matter the people who try to deny the truth about themselves, even I know that I don't consider myself to be normal, perfect or innocent. The good are dwindling and powerless, losing more and more ground to evil as time goes by. The world is not as kind as it used to be. You thought your place was bad? Well, Naruto… You've yet to see what hell truly is once you step inside the Empire's capital.

All it takes is for one person to upset the status quo and everything becomes chaos. Everything will fall into place by your feet for you to mold into your own creation… That Teigu you have there is not just a weapon, but a tool. That one tool's purpose is for conquering, war, building and forging the fires and the flames for an empire worthy of a true leader. That leader… is you." She pointed to Naruto "You will be the beacon for humanity. You are the wakeup call for the ignorant and the lazy that need to realize the reality of this world. The times are changing and it is coming fast… and the choice you will have to make is either peace, or destruction?... or maybe both?" she looked him in the eye with a look of dead seriousness and growing smile on her face, like she knew of the Teigu's origins.

"You… You know about this?" he asked her pointing to his Teigu amulet, to which she nodded her head smiling. "How?"

Karasu sighed to herself. "It was about 500 years ago when a civil war broke out. The emperor at the time was not exactly a popular one, nor was he a strong leader. The Empire had been divided because some politicians and certain groups of people involved in some scheme took advantage of the emperor's moment of weakness to rally supporters to their cause… One of them being my ancestor. For generations, my family has always been an Aristocratic military family. We were the empire's most influential and most powerful military family. However, our stellar reputation had fallen from grace, because of my ancestor. My ancestor led a coup against the Empire, envisioning himself as the new emperor for whatever reason… but he ultimately failed in his goal. What he had in his possession was that very Teigu you have in your hands now." She grasped onto his hand which held the Teigu.

"My ancestor was unworthy of the Teigu's power and he chose to lose himself in his own delusions of grandeur. He became corrupted by his own greed and lust for power and was eventually taken out by the Emperor's assassins and the Teigu was ordered to be sealed away. But now… the Teigu has been found once again and it has chosen you… Normally, I would be concerned that it may affect you in some way, but I believe you can control it and harness its power to make this Empire your own."

Naruto looked at his Teigu and stared at it for a good moment before karasu sat herself down on the bed next to him. "But… I think I'll tell you my story now… of how I came to be what I am today." She cleared her throat before she began.

* * *

Karasu's POV

It all began at the estate of the Krähe family. My family surname and my first name ironically stands for crow, whose symbolism stands for cunning intellect, death and war. Incidentally, they can also be considered as a sign that change is coming.

While we were once considered the strongest and most influential military noble family in the Empire… we had long since lost that right after my ancestor shamed us with his betrayal. We were punished heavily and most of our power and influence was stripped off of our hands and our lands requisitioned from us. My family, specifically the head of the house of Krähe, My father, Victor Krähe, lived in a time where there was still distrust against him and his family name amongst the Empire's officials. All because of a long held grudge that has existed for over five centuries.

It all started when my father fell in love with my mother, who was part of another powerful and influential family that was affiliated with the Empire. However, she was actually adopted from another clan, or so my mother said when she moved here from the eastern continent. Her family was at first against the idea of marrying their precious surrogate/adoptive daughter off to the cursed family of the Krähe… the family of crows. However, for some reason, the head of the house changed his mind and was suddenly all for the marriage of the couple… it turns out that he had ulterior motives and wanted my family's power for himself.

Because of the pressure that had been thrusted upon him by my maternal grandfather, my father soon crumbled under the pressure and turned to madness that had been haunting him for years. This madness, like voices whispering into his head, goaded him to just let go… at least that was how I was told. According to my mother and various other people he hadn't always been like that, but from what I knew of him was…. Hn! He was a cunt.

My mother married him because she thought of him as a good man. She believed that despite the curse of our family, that my father was not an evil man… She was right at first, but eventually he became what she had feared.

I did not understand at the time because I was a small child, but it started when I was first born along with my younger twin sister Hikari.

 **("Twin sister?" Naruto eyes widened slightly in surprise as he never knew that she had a twin sister.)**

Yes, a twin sister. She was my opposite. She was the light and I was the dark, just like yin and the yang respectively. My Mother was like the happiest woman in the world to have us. She loved us without harbouring any doubts. My father however… was looking for an heir, a son.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

"Dear? Would you like to hold your daughter?" the mother asked as she held out baby Karasu to her husband. She had a curious look on her face as she squealed and held out her hands towards her father as her face lit up with a happy expression, but her joy was soon dampened when the look on her father's face morphed into a scowling look of disdain and scorn. Karasu was soon leaking tears from her eyes and then began bawling them out. Not long after she started, her sister joined her as she sensed her discomfort and wanted her sister.

"Che!" he spat in disgust as he couldn't stand the noise of his daughter's wailing. "This is supposed to be my children? Misaki… I expected a son! I wanted a son, not weak daughters!"

"Darling?... they're just newborns… you don't know what their future holds." She looked at him horrified at his coldness.

"Not enough to pass on my position as the next head. Women are not suited for power, especially for war."

"You don't know that… besides, what planet do you think you're on? I have known plenty of women in power and they are doing just fine despite all of the prejudice against them for being women. They can easily defeat you with just a flick of their finger." She countered.

"Che!" he spat in disdain and stormed out of the room, leaving his wife in bed with her daughters. She looked down sadly at her daughters and they both looked up at her expectantly. She regained her smile and cooed at both of her cute daughters. She decided that regardless of what happened to her, she would remain strong for her daughters.

* * *

 **(Present)**

"After our birth, everything became difficult for us. My father grew increasingly distant towards me, my sister and my mother. He always sat in his study alone, with a bottle of exquisite wine or something stronger, like whisky in his hand… and staring into the lit fireplace muttering dark thoughts to himself. It was like he was having a conversation with somebody that wasn't there.

One day my sister wanted to show him a picture that she drew of us as a happy family in front of our mansion. While she had this expectant and determined look on her face, her hopes and moment of happiness were shot down by the cold words of my bastard of a father… His words were, "Get out, you weak little bitch… you will never become anything… you are and will always be worth nothing to me." he said to her before he threw his bottle at her, narrowly missing her . She ran out of the room in tears and in fear of him.

Our mother confronted him, but his response…

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

"Why would you do that!? How could you do that to her!?" Mother screamed in maternal rage at him, to which he growled in his seat as he gripped tightly on the armrests in annoyance and aggravation at the tone that his wife was using on him.

"Because she's annoying… I hate it when she pesters me with those shitty little drawings and that stupid fucking smile on her face…" he seethed.

"That's not the truth of why you did it… tell me the truth!? Why do you hate your daughters so much!?"

"Why?... because they don't deserve to be born! It's not fair!" he choked angrily.

"You… You resent them because you're envious of them? Because Kara-chan and Hikari-chan both have the potential of holding and using our heirloom Tefficiently while you don't? Are you afraid that they will surpass and become greater than you?!" she asked incredulously and in shock.

"Don't say their names… they're dead to me!" he glared at her and told her with venom lacing his words.

"You… what's happened to you? Where is the man I loved!? You don't just hate your children out of jealousy and envy... you should be proud of them instead. Proud of what they can do and move onto great things."

"I refuse… I want a son… I need a son… I need… to bring honour back… to make the house of Krähe great again… I need… I want… Prometheus." He breathed in heavily and had a look of madness on his face. It was the look of a desperate man.

Misaki's eyes widened "So that's why… that's why you've distanced yourself from me… you've become obsessed in some cursed treasure… a cursed Teigu… the very Teigu that cursed your name to begin with. Why would you do this?... it's forever gone… and it is hidden for a reason."

"No…not gone… I know of its whereabouts… it is buried in a mountain somewhere... just got to find it." he twitched to himself.

"Is this also the reason why you've bought out several mines with our own money?"

"The mines were about to be decommissioned… so I bought it off the previous owners for a cheap price… I just need workers… anyone will do… just need to gather some."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Enough! Your annoying pestering is getting on my nerves… leave!" he ordered her.

"I'm pestering you because you owe your daughter a sincere apology!" she defied him.

"I'll give her one if she were a boy, which she's not. Now leave!" he shouted at her.

"I will not! You will come with me and apologize to you- *Thwak* Kuh!" she coughed out and collapsed onto the ground coughing and wheezing as she was punched hard into her abdomen.

"Insolent bitch… know your place!" he sneered. Suddenly, he gained a cruel grin on his face. "Well… I suppose I'll forgive you for your attitude and apologize to her if you promise me something." He crouched down and muttered into her ear. "Give me a son." He huskily growled into her ear and making her shiver in fear and terror.

"…No" she objected.

"Excuse me?"

"I said… no…you don't… deserve one from me." she said defiantly.

He looked at her in rage and was about to raise his fist against her until… "You know what… forget it…. you're not worth It." he said before lowering his fist and walking out of the room and exiting the mansion.

Misaki laid on the ground, wincing in pain as tears began streaming out of her eyes. She got up and quickly made her way to her daughters room, making sure that she wiped away her tears before she faced them.

* * *

 **(Present)**

After that… we rarely saw our father again after that incident. Our mother tried to file for a divorce and split herself, me and my sister from the family. However, my grandfather, rejected the proposal, because he still wanted control over my father's mines, lands, military power and influence. However, he still wanted my father punished for what he did to his daughter and his grandchildren so he sent hired thugs to deliver a message to him.

Unfortunately, my father was already a step ahead of him and had sent hired assassins after my mother's side of the family and anyone one else that the family viewed as close friends. He came back with a box filled with the severed heads of her family and friends and he warned her that if she ever tried anything against him again, there would be severe consequences.

I was four years old then. I didn't understand why my mother was hurting so much. My sister being the gentle and kind soul, was always there for her mother and always comforted her. I however… I foolishly wanted to gain my father's acknowledgment and to protect my sister and my mother… so I started to train myself by getting smarter, faster and stronger. I soon discovered that I had a talent. I learned things at an accelerated rate and was better than most normal children my age. I learned the alphabet in mere seconds and dominated every spelling test that was thrown at me and I soon began to understand mathematical questions just by learning the concepts once.

When I soon realised my potential, I desired to surpass my father and become the head of the house. So I went into my father's study and picked up all kinds of books on war, strategy and any other kind of books focusing on the art of warfare. I also researched combat books that taught me the history, theories and the discipline of martial arts.

When father was away doing god knows what… I was using the time of my limited childhood to mold myself into something great. So great that even father would have to acknowledge my efforts.

But nine months later... I came to realise that my efforts were all for nought. When he came back… with a baby boy in his hands.

* * *

 **(Flashback)**

Karasu, Hikari and Misaki were in the central foyer and they watched the head of the house with a joyous smile on his face as he held his son in his hands.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet my son, Clovis." He announced proudly.

Hikari tugged on her sister's black dress sleeve "Does that mean… he's our little brother?"

Karasu didn't know what to say about that, because she saw that her mother was shaking in anger and betrayal.

"Whose child is that?"

The father glanced at her briefly with indifference. "Mine… why d-"

"Who carried the child?" she gritted her teeth.

"... Nobody you need to be concerned about… she's already been dealt with." He said flippantly.

Misaki's eyes widened at the meaning and she ran off to her isolated bedroom with tears trailing down her eyes. Her child Hikari chasing after her calling for her mother.

Karasu glared at her father and at the supposed brother. She could feel some unfamiliar emotion welling up in her chest when he saw the happy look of her father's face when he cooed at the son in his hands. He never did that to her, he never even held her.

Her father then turned to look at her glaring daughter and he suddenly sneered at her. He then announced. "Oh and by the way… he is to be the future head of this house, not you. He is the true heir now" He walked off, clearly not expecting a foolish child to understand what that meant, but he was wrong.

Karasu's eyes widened and she gritted her teeth together in barely restrained anger and… hatred… Yes, she was feeling hatred for the first time against her father.

* * *

That was when life truly became a living hell inside the house. Mother was left heartbroken, depressed and living in fear under her husband's shadow, ruling over her with an iron fist. At a time she tried to be defiant against him, but each attempt only brought upon her harsher and more abusive punishments.

My sister Hikari was always there for her. She earned her mother's heirloom, The Waters of life: Medicus. She earned the Teigu because of her pure, gentle and innocent soul and her drive and ambition to help and save people's lives. But her actions for helping her mother would also bring about harsh punishments on her too, but she remained strong for me and my mother.

I however, earned the right to use my father's family heirloom "Absolute Discipline: Belmont" that he himself couldn't even use. He resented me for that, and he made plans for his son to take the Teigu off of me.

Unfortunately, after almost five years of living with him, he grew up to become a spoiled, selfish and sadistic brat. He was a terror who had no respect, discipline or kindness. Everything was handed to him, even mine and my sister's personal treasures. Clovis tried to use both of our Teigus, but fortunately they both rejected him… harshly.

The little shit was livid, but not as much as my father as he soon came to realize that I was still superior to him and my half-brother. I was even far better than him in school when I was his age. In fact, my sister and I had skipped a few grades and earned our way to a private academy for noble families that were normally reserved for people twice our age. Father tried to do the same with Clovis, but he was only 4 years old and he couldn't handle the pressure of advanced education. He mostly lazed and fooled around as what most children his age do, so instead he was home schooled.

Clovis came to realize that he didn't want to disappoint his father, so he somehow came to learn underhanded tactics and he bribed several people who happened to have grudges against me and my sister. He paid them an unreasonable amount, mostly because he didn't know a thing about bribery and he overpaid them too much. However, he didn't realize what he actually did when he said "do anything you want to them". He only wanted our textbooks to copy down for certain classes that he had been struggling in.

The boys were 6 to 8 years older than us and they hated us with a passion. They couldn't fathom themselves being bested by a child, and a girl no less, and their envy and jealousy fueled their grudges. Once they were offered a chance for payback for such humiliation on their honor and family names, a lot of them had agreed, but with different ideas of revenge on their minds. Some thought of using violence, others thought of humiliation, a few thought of blackmailing and there were even some who had darker thoughts that ranged from making us bleed to satisfying their carnal desires.

Even before the prime minister and the current emperor took power, this country was already on the brink of despair, corruption and darkness. The people in power, especially the nobles, had this sense of arrogance and superiority, and believed that they are above the law. For most nobles above a certain power ranking, that would indeed be the case, especially if they covered their tracks well… but not Clovis. He was only a beginner and had yet to learn that his footsteps can lead someone who he has wronged straight back to him.

* * *

The scene changed into a view of an academy campus filled with bloody, battered and a broken mess of teenage boys and girls all knocked unconscious or in a coma. Karasu was seen leaving the campus with her sister in tow after forcing her to come back home with her and not to waste her energy on scum like them.

The scene changed again where Clovis was seen sneaking into Karasu's room and snooping around her personal drawers and looking for her textbooks that had all of the answers he needed to pass a test, because he never bothered to do his own research. Karasu and Hikari always were the perfect students which always made him mad and resentful.

Finally, he found the text book in a drawer and was about to swipe it and run out the room with it in victory. Until he noticed that standing in the entrance was Karasu covered in dried blood on her hands, more specifically, where her knuckles were. Her black and white school uniform was ruined by the splatters of blood, tears and dirt from when she had to fight with several other students. Her eyes were ice cold and filled with murderous rage.

Clovis dropped the textbook in fear and terror as he tried to run away from her but his sister was too fast. She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and choke slammed the brat onto the floor and she pinned her brother onto the floor and started to pummel his face.

Each punch fueled her rage, causing her punches to increase in both speed and force. Her anger was calling out to her to unleash her fury and vengeance. To punish him for putting her sister in danger.

 **'... He must pay…'** Dark voices suddenly called out to her. **'He is weak… he does not deserve it… take back what is rightfully yours… Kill him!'** the dark malicious voice chanted out to her which made Karasu pause in her moment of delivering punishment to her brother who was crying in sheer agony as he was covered in bleeding cuts, darkening bruises and painful concussions.

"Who's there?" Karasu called out to the voice.

 **'We are always with you… we are the voices of the battlefield… we are the birds that reap the lives of the fallen… we are the crows that feast on the defeated... We are the crows that will show you the way forward… you child are the one we need… we need you… for change… to find the child… find the one who will bring destruction and enforce change… find him… follow him… serve him… that is what you must do… '** the whispers told her an she listened to them intently but was confused by the information they were giving her. "You will know in due time… you must get stronger… before the time comes… we will help you…' the whispers promised her.

In her moment of trance she was suddenly knocked out of it harshly and brutally when a fist connected with her face. She was knocked off of her brother and sent flying straight to her drawers where she smacked her head. Luckily her head injury wasn't too severe, but her face had a bruise forming.

The one who dared to punch her was none other than her own father. He stood in front of her like an enraged rabid dog, snarling furiously with his teeth showing and gritting together to the point of them cracking. His eyes had a look of pure hate and fury to them and with the intent to harm.

"You….You dare harm my son!" he charged at Karasu and slammed her against the drawers, knocking her breath out of her lungs. Her eyesight was then blurred when she felt the stinging pain of a punch that blinded her left eye.

Karasu retaliated by grabbing a handheld mirror and smashed it over her father's face. The glass mirror shards shattered and stabbed themselves into his face, as he recoiled away screaming in pain. The result of her attack forced him to let go of Karasu.

Karasu took the chance to run out of her bedroom in order to find her sister and her mother. They needed to escape.

 ***Bang!***

Karasu then felt heavy and she collapsed onto the floor with a burning sensation on her right leg as she felt a hole being blasted through her thigh as she had been shot by her own father. Karasu didn't scream, but she did grit her teeth together. She looked up and saw the sneering smirk of her father looking down on her with a smoking shiny golden revolver in his left hand.

Her last memory of that moment was a heavy boot coming straight for her face.

* * *

 **(Karasu POV)**

My father had completely lost his mind and had really tried to kill me, but I was lucky that he didn't. Clovis was lucky enough that he would recover, but was forced to avoid going outside for a while until his face healed. However, the amount of damage and disfigurement I gave him would not heal right away and would take somewhere between a couple of months to a year.

Those voices in my head called themselves the crows, like what you see in the aftermath of a battlefield where the losers are left behind either, dying, rotting or being eaten by the gathering of crows. It was strange at first, sometimes unsettling to hear them… But I became quite used to them… they helped me survive what was to come next.

* * *

Karasu woke up when whatever she was lying on jolted to a halt which stirred her from her sleep. Without warning her vision was assaulted by a bright, yet slightly dulled light.

"Wake up soldier!" a man in an Imperial officer's uniform shouted at her. She soon realized that she was in a carriage, chained to the walls. Her clothes had been changed to nothing, but dirty rags.

Then, more uniformed men entered the carriage and unlocked my cuffs and dragged her out of the carriage by my arms before she was thrown into a room filled with children.

"Welcome to your new life soldier. This place will be your new home, these people will be your new family, and this is where you will learn to serve our glorious empire." The man grinned.

* * *

 **(Karasu POV)**

I learned that my father sold me to this man named Gozuki. He was given orders from the Empire to search for and gather lost and abandoned children. However, the correct term for their actions, was abducting them. Some of the children were forsaken by their own parents who just sold them off like my father did with me. This was all done in order to create a special team of assassins tasked with serving the Empire. When the Empire pointed them towards an objective, their sole purpose was to go and fight to solve all of the problems that threatened their so-called peace or for more personal gain.

Gozuki was a prideful man, as well as ambitious and incredibly strict, but he was a good teacher. Although his methods of teaching can be considered cruel by many, but it did not matter to me. In fact, I benefited from it. He wanted what was best for his pupils and he didn't want any of them to show weakness. So he devised several tests, as well as some of the most brutal, grueling and harshest training regiments to weed out the weak.

The physical training we underwent to become mass killers was just the start of what was to come. Because we were all children at the time, our minds were more easily accepting towards the indoctrination process. Additionally, with the right training, our bodies adapted to almost any scenario we were forcibly exposed to. The results they were hoping for… was the creation of the ultimate soldiers, warriors and assassins.

I was one of the earliest generations picked and sold to Gozuki for his project, but my sister and my mother were left behind at the mercy of my father and half-brother. They didn't want any ties to hold me back. If Hikari had been sent here, then she would have relied too much on me which Gozuki viewed as a sign of weakness. He was right in a way… but our forced separation only fueled my thirst for revenge and to reunite with my sister and my mother.

Gozuki had a keen eye for talent and he instantly took a liking to me when I refused to back down. I never succumbed to pain, instead the pain made me strive further… I thrived in it… it made me stronger each time it hurt.

The crows encouraged me and they taught me ways on how a warrior can survive and also how to be the leader of the flock of crows… but first, I needed my own flock.

I saw strength in all of the children where most of the adults could not. They mostly saw weak sniveling brats. It wasn't until the true test came that we were able to demonstrate the results of our training. They chose to place all 100 children inside a forest and the first eight children to arrive at the other end of the forest would be recruited.

Not one person, even Gozuki expected many to survive the forest. They expected the forest to consume the weak. However, they had all underestimated me.

I had predicted that this scenario would happen and I was already several steps ahead of them. I informed every child that was taking part in the exam and they all trusted my word. We made a plan to meet up in a specific area where I set off a smoke signal from a fire I made and they were all to follow the direction of the smoke.

Luckily, they all managed to find the smoke and they were all unharmed when they arrived.

I was considered by many of the fellow child soldiers as their leader back in the day. I was something like a troublemaker to the instructors… I was the alpha of my own pack of wolves, or in this case, a flock of crows. I was always defying their sense of logic and I was always defeating and surpassing their tests. When it came to the group tests… I never left anyone behind. My training and my leadership skill is what made me who I am. The other children looked up to me, awed me, respected me, followed me and in return, I made sure that they all survived. They didn't want weak links, neither did I… but I made sure that they never broke either.

During the first time they did this test, they were shocked that all of the children came back alive and well and with me leading the pack. Gozuki while impressed with my leadership skills, was also greatly annoyed at what I had done. He tried to instill into me that sometimes a leader had to make the necessary sacrifices. I countered that this test was not one of those and that I will make the decisions whether they lived or died. I valued strength, tenacity, willpower, discipline and the ability to be wise and the ability to endure. I detested incompetency and unprofessionalism in the ranks. If anyone were to show signs of discord, disrespect, treason or any signs of anything that went against my word of law and the Empire's, then I would be the one to dish out the punishment.

The instructors, proctors and Gozuki were not happy with what I did as I intentionally set back their project. So my punishment for disrupting their expectations and deliberately defying them, they decided to put me into a separate project that was issued as a failure with a slim chance for success. I doubt you would've heard of this man, but I was given to him as a lab rat to be used for one of his experiments for making the perfect soldier.

He made a serum that would greatly enhance the body's genetics such as strength, stamina, endurance, intellect, instincts and much more… He wanted the ultimate soldier, a super soldier as what the experiment was labelled as… but it was soon labelled as a failure.

Of course, this experiment was considered a hopeless waste of money and resources. Thus, they could no longer afford to continue and the lab rats had all been used up. They were used for such inhumane experiments that had left them either crippled, addled, or dead from the physical or mental enhancements which caused them excruciating pain that was forced through their bodies from the serum. The total number of fatalities were too high of a risk to keep on going with such little success to go on, the closest ones to surviving were the crippled.

Soon the Empire had decided that enough was enough, as they were to cut off all of the funding they have given to Dr. Stylish. As expected, he was outraged. He was one of those new aspiring scientists that wanted to prove themselves. Stylish was a prodigy in the scientific field, the mad and insane kind.

This serum was a one of a kind drug that would accelerate my performance to superhuman levels. Granted, I was already strong enough, but the serum would boost my physical and mental capabilities, as well as my instincts, through the roof at a rate that I could achieve in 85% less of the time that it would normally take to train soldiers.

But the process of boosting one's abilities would be excruciating on the body and could prove fatal… like the rest of the failed experiments on the others before me. I was the last one to go through the tests of augmentation.

But in the end… it was worth the pain.

* * *

 **End Part 1/2**

 **AN: I originally did this chapter and the next as a single that amounted up to 43,000 words before I had to split it... fuck me, I've got a problem with that. My poor beta reader.**


	5. Chapter 5: Origins part 2

Chapter theme is Vicarious Tool

* * *

 **Origins Part 2**

A shaved bald headed man with a monocle covering his left eye scrutinised the state that Karasu was in. She lay strapped down and restrained and silenced on a surgical table, completely unable to either move or say a word, but was still capable of glaring at every person around her.

The bald headed man spared a glance at the young Dr. Stylish. He frowned as he observed this new, so called promising scientist who is said to be one of the best new upcoming scientists. The man himself was what he would consider as an oddball, as well as mad.

Stylish is the type of person who favoured in serving in his own interests rather than others. He also would not care if he was ordered to something, as he preferred to do his own thing without the interference of others. Hence, why he was most upset and outraged that the imperials decided to cut off funding for his project because they weren't getting any promising results in return. Any lab rats he had manged to gather were all mutilated from the inside as the serum forced their genetics to evolve and adapt to the augmentation at rates that the body of a normal human just simply couldn't cope with. They were simply unable to cope with the traumatising pain that they had felt throughout the experiment.

He was also suspected to be deceitful, but no one could prove that he was. There had been reports of missing people from certain villages in the countryside, in the capital and even within the ranks of the imperial military. There were even rumours that certain resources have been reported as either missing or stolen.

Stylish also apparently seemed to have another strong obsession aside from his experiments. He was crazy with anything he considered as stylish and tended to overdramatise that fact with his self-absorbed personality.

Although, the thing that put the commander of the rejects off the most, were the rumours that the man was a… homosexual. In truth, it wasn't much of a secret, but nobody dared to find that out. His constant flirting towards the handsome commanders, imperial officers and scientists did make the man uncomfortable being around him. He had nothing against gays, although he didn't really care about them… He just wanted them to know that he is a married man… despite the fact that he hates his wife.

"Are you certain that this will work?" the man with the monocle asked Stylish.

"Tch!... I don't really have a choice with this one. Although I would've preferred her to be a man. This girl is not what I call stylish at all. She is supposed to be from a noble family right? Then why is she so violent and brutish? She lacks elegance, etiquette, style! It's just not fair! My dream! I wanted to create the ultimate specimen of man, but all of the men that I looked for across the land, I thought they looked strong and stylish, but they were all useless in the end. Now they have become ugly and hideous monsters… such a waste!" stylish spun around the room clutching onto his heart and feigning his sorrow through over dramatic movements as he cried out fake tears. The monocle man swore he saw him surrounded by spotlights and rose petals were fluttering around him.

'Oh why?... why am I stuck with him?' he resisted the urge to face palm as his eyebrow was twitching and his monocle was threatening to pop out.

"You are correct in that regard, the scientists and the military generals pointed out a noteworthy specimen. She is 12 years old, but I think you can work with that. She is also picked for this experiment because of two reasons. The first is that she is considered expendable and two she come from that family."

"Yes, the family of crows. How barbaric their family is. This girl is no exception."

"She's also resourceful and is known for her strength and endurance. It was the reason why she was picked. "

Stylish sighed. "I understand, unlike all of the previous specimens, regardless of their age, that I have tried this serum on, none of them could compare to this girl's potential. She could outperform most grown up men. With this serum and the augmentations that come with it… if she survives them, then she will become something of a demon on the battlefield. Are you sure you want me to give her something like this?"

"All I'm doing is following orders in finding a weapon and a capable soldier for the Empire. The military leaders and politicians that still have hold grudge out for the Krähe family see this as some personal enjoyment in seeing a member of that cursed family suffer.

"So I've heard. It seems she is not very well liked in the military."

"She undermines anyone she considers as incompetent. She is always challenging the word of her superior officer if she doesn't like the order or sees no value in it. It's also bad that she also undermines the teachings of the lecturers to the point that most of the recruits don't trust anyone else, but her."

"Quite the character I see... She could make quite the general one day."

"It would never happen, she has too much opposition and they would object to it instantly. The only way for her is to get the acknowledgement and the word of the emperor in order to gain the position."

"Hmm… I see."

"Any progress?" the man asked Stylish.

"I'm just getting to it, we're almost ready. She just gave some of our scientists a bit of trouble at first that we had to restrain the girl after she shoved a scalpel in my colleague's eye. You need to teach that girl discipline someday."

"I plan to, along with a few other valuable lessons she needs to learn." The man frowned before turning towards the window that showed the room where the test subject was in as she was laid restrained on a table and hooked up to heart monitors and IV drip machine that would inject and pump the serum into her body.

Karasu laid on the table naked and covered with a lot of tight leather straps that went down from her head to her feet with the belts covering her lady parts and her developing breasts. Her face was also partially covered as her mouth was silenced due to the strap which muffled her voice. Her eyes peered through the gap between two straps pressing into her forehead and suffocating and crushing the bridge of her nose.

"Inject the serum." The voice of stylish was heard through the speakers as the order was heard by the two scientists and two guards that were on standby in case anything went wrong. The scientists dressed in surgeon's clothing nodded their heads. They began to set up the machine and inspected everything to see if it was in order. When everything was considered to be functioning accurately, they nodded and then turned the machine on.

The tubes on top of the machine that contained six syringes bean filling up with the augmenting serum that would be entering in six different places at once. Among which included her upper torso, her abdomen and her separate limbs. Each of them were injected into each important vein or organ such as the heart or jugular vein.

Karasu was forced to endure the proceedings, she watched all of the scientists that hooked her up to these machines that were containing the strange bright ruby red liquid that they wanted to inject her with.

Then she felt the foreign liquid invade her body through her veins. She started to resist again like she did before, but in that moment of resistance her back arched into a series of spams and her eyes widened in shock and pain as she took in a sharp breath as she felt the rush of adrenaline pumping through her heart. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't as her muffled screams were blocked by the leather strap sealing her mouth shut.

'Gaaahh! Wha-what is this! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!' she tried to scream out to those scientists, but they simply continued to observe without any emotion. The ones nearby were watching in slight apprehension, not for her but for their own safety.

The military leaders and the scientists in the opposite room that were spectating this event were either watching with some twisted sense of either smug satisfaction or sick and twisted pleasure at the sight of her writhing in agony. The rest just watched with indifference and a sense of cold apathy in their eyes.

Stylish on the other hand was sweating bullets. While he never personally cared about the girl, he needed this to succeed in order to gain further support for his future experiments. All he needed was for the girl to pull through.

The feeling of the serum was similar to the feeling of having molten lava being pushed through her veins. Her body was on fire and her muscles were ripping and tearing themselves apart in order to accommodate their accelerated growth and development. Her mind was pulsating with new and enhanced intellect and her instincts and senses were developing faster that she could have ever thought possible.

Everything single fibre in her body was suffering through the agonising biological augmentation. Karasu never felt this much pain before, at first she wanted it to stop… but then... why would she?

'No… accept it… embrace it… harness it… to become stronger… overcome the pain… it will pass… it is why you fight!' The dark voices whispered into her head, just like before.

The whispers had been with her throughout her stay at boot camp and in the 1st exam. The voices of the crows had been a huge beneficial help to her and her survival. Not many would agree with the concept of having voices in your head, but they were the only entities and friends she could turn to. Karasu understood that not everyone would understand and put up with her friends in her head. If anyone else were to know about them, then they would send her into an insane asylum or abandon her to the wolves, so she kept it in the dark.

Karasu heard the voices comforting her, telling her to accept it… so she did. She stopped resisting and tried to relax, but it was easier said than done.

After she stopped resisting the pain, it got a lot worse. Her body convulsed, twitched erratically, shook spontaneously as the tremors in her body skyrocketed. She thrashed into the leather restraints trying to break free, but they held her back tightly onto the table as the belts dug into her skin. However, the sounds of leather stretching and the buckles straining and snapping became noticeable.

The scientists and the guards swallowed nervously as they grew more worried. If she managed to break out now then...

*Snap!*

An arm broke free as Karasu managed to loosen the belts restraining her arm, she used her free arm to break off the other belts.

"She's free!"

"Shit!

"Use the sedative!"

"No! it will interfere with the augmentation, let her burn through her energy." Stylish shouted through the mic.

"But doctor, she could lash out against any of us..."

"Then hold her still!"

"I got this bitch!" a guard with an electric stun baton prepared to jab her with the electric prongs as he approached her.

Karasu had just ripped of the remaining belts on her chest and she sat up with another violent convulsion that left her winded. After she lifted herself up she felt two sharp metal prongs jabbing into her left side and an electric current sparked out of the baton, causing her to tense her muscles and the serum reacted badly to the stress she was in after the electric shock. She flew off the table taking the rest of the restraints with her as she kicked off the reaming restraints after she was shocked.

"Hold her down!" the guard shouted to his colleague.

"What are you doing!? Don't damage my experiment!" Stylish shouted at the guards.

"Just making sure she doesn't do anything stupid." The guard said flippantly before he walked around the table to grab onto the shoulders of Karasu.

Just before he grabbed onto her shoulder he felt a sharp twist in his wrist and he looked back from Stylish to his right wrist to see it dislocated and the fingers crushed.

"My…my hand" he said in shock.

Back with the military leaders, politicians and the scientists they were discussing their disappointments and scepticism on the project.

" Dr Stylish even if this were to be successful, the risks are far too great for even one of the test subjects to survive. We cannot possibly give this to our best infantry soldiers in hopes of a small chance for them to get stronger in a matter of... a few weeks or less. What we just saw in there is just simply assisted suicide, but a slower and more excruciating way to die."

"You have tested at least 89 subjects before her and all of them were failures. What makes this one any different?"

Stylish just sighed and he removed his glasses and cleaned them on his sleeve. "There were some… inconveniences with this project, but through a lot of trial and error and many hours that I have spent on tweaking this serum and acquiring a suitable test subject… She is the only one that fits the requirements, unfortunately."

"Why her specifically?"

"It's more to do with her family's blood and it's past. The house of Krähe, also known as the house of crows, is known for a legend that dates back way before the time of the civil war five centuries ago. This legend dates back to the creation of the Teigu.

It was said that during the search of a Teigu, one of the military generals who was an ancestor of the Krähe family was the one who brought the legend and the curse on the family's name when an innocent tribe was slaughtered under his command. It wasn't until the civil war that they became abhorred by everyone. To this day they still are not favoured by many people in the Empire, as they came to realise what they really were inside…"

"What's this got to do with her?"

"There is… something strange about her… It's difficult to describe it. This is apparent in every generation of the Krähe family. Even the head of the house, Victor Krähe is not exempt from this… Although, he is rather tame compared to the one who led the civil war. It was said that he was obsessed with War and all of the ugly sides to it. He indulged in spoils, pillaging, rape, famine, torture, destruction etc. He was the kind of man who had almost brought the Empire to its knees. IF… he could."

"Why's that?"

"That I cannot tell you… it's classified information and is only known by the emperor, but even then I won't blame him if he forgot the real reason why the tyrant suddenly fell weak. It was if he had lost his power all of a sudden. Vast powerful armies just suddenly… vanished into black smoke. They found him two days later cowering in a well outside of a village next to the western border after the assassins managed to corner him."

"I thought he fell during battle?"

"That's what they wanted us to believe, but I believe it had something to do with his Teigu rejecting him. Which is strange in itself as I have never heard of a Teigu rejecting its owner in a time period of months to years after the user first wielded the Teigu. By norm it should've rejected him the moment he touched it." Stylish continued rambling until the generals got impatient.

"Dr. Stylish please, what is it with her specifically? Why is she needed?"

"Because general, she is descended from the worst men and women in history that have come from that family. I have discovered that she has the potential to be the worst of them all… you wanted a human weapon, then your best shot at it is through her. In her blood is the genes of a true warlord."

"I don't see how thi-"

 ***Slam!***

They were interrupted when all of a sudden, a body came smashing face first into the bulletproof glass. The force behind the impact was enough to cave in the glass and smother it with the guard's blood.

"What the hell!?" the military leaders and the scientists jumped up in fright from the shocking scene. Stylish turned back to look into the experiment room to see the guards getting brutally taken out with their own weapons as Karasu had pinned one of the guards against a wall, shoving the electrical prongs of his stun baton on the bridge of his nose. The head of the guard sizzled as he violently thrashed about under the vice-like grip Karasu had on him and refused to let go.

What the leaders and the scientists saw was a naked, yet developing 13 thirteen year old Karasu pinning an older and far more muscular man, as if he was just a child. The look in her eyes showed that she was consumed by rage as they glowed with an amber like hue. She snarled with unrivalled fury as she tortured the guard beneath her.

While she was preoccupied, a brave scientist was fumbling around fearfully as he clumsily tried to fill a syringe with a sedative. Once he was done, he rushed over to the enraged Karasu and tried to jab the needle into her shoulder. Unfortunately, she already anticipated his movements as she caught his hand and redirected the syringe into his own face by smashing the whole thing into it. One of the other scientists banged on the shattered bulletproof glass, pleading to the audience on the other side.

"Let me out! The doors are sealed shut! Please don't leave me in here with her!" the skinny man wailed pathetically until Karasu silenced him by smashing his head against the glass.

The military leaders and scientists, despite being intrigued by the results so far, were quickly becoming concerned for their safety.

"Dr. Stylish do something!"

"Calm down good general, this here is bullet proof glass. She will need to do a lot better than have a tantrum to break through that."

He was then proven wrong when an arm burst through the glass covered in blood and made to grab a coat of a nearby scientist who was watching a bit too closely.

"AHHH! GET HER OFF !" the man screamed in terror as she pulled him into the glass, repeatedly slamming his face into it multiple times.

Stylish acted just in time and released the knockout gas into the room. The gas was potent enough to knock out an earth dragon or larger. Fortunately, Karasu was out like a light. Although, she did flail around a bit before collapsing. Unfortunately, the other guards and remaining personnel still alive in the room soon died due to the potency of the gas.

"Are you mad! The gas is leaking into this room!"

"I am well aware of that, but as you can see, everything is under control." He smiled reassuringly to the leaders and was overjoyed that his experiment was a success… despite the casualties and fatalities on the members of his staff.

Stylish turned towards the Monocle man. "I do hope that you are satisfied with your weapon… because I don't want her around anymore. She cramps up my style."

The Monocle man scrutinised the carnage that happened in the room and smiled. "It will have to do. You will receive increased funding if you can find a way to utilize this serum in a way that makes it more efficient with lower risks."

Stylish smirked to himself smugly and walked off in triumph. Whilst the gas cleared, the body of Karasu was reclaimed and relocated into another special facility to train her in her augmented body.

* * *

(Karasu POV)

The experiment had proven to be a success for Stylish and it certainly did revive his career as a mad scientist. As a result of this massive boost to his popularity, he became more involved with several notorious and powerful figures in the empire.

Although, he didn't want anything to do with me as his interest in me had long since vanished. Still, I was fine with that… I had no more interest in being his lab rat anymore.

The results of the experiment had made some drastic improvements to my body. I was strong before, but after the experiment my body's growth and development had drastically accelerated and the power and strength output that was going through my muscles was insane. Granted I didn't necessarily need the serum as I was already quite strong myself… but with my current strength, I was actually a match for the Empire's strongest once, before she obtained her infamy, and that Teigu… now she's something else entirely.

A few years after they finished my training, I had finally managed to adapt to my improved and enhanced body. They also managed to once again gather a new group of children for their initiation test. For good measure, they made me do the test again along with some new children to go through the same forest exam. Only this time I was pumped up with that super soldier serum flowing through my veins and my body was beyond peak condition and it only continued to grow stronger. However, they barred me from relying on any tricks that I would've used during the exam. In addition, they had set all of the children off into the forest first so that they could all get a 10 minute head start from me. This method was done to ensure that I wouldn't meddle in their exam. Finally, they would only allow 7 new recruits for their elite assassination squad. I conceded defeat in that moment, but it didn't mean that I was not determined to at least gather a few worthy soldiers for my flock

Once the 10 minute timer was up, I was on my way into the forest. My objective was to find as many people as I could… people that I could trust and who in turn would trust me.

* * *

Two girls were seen running through the forest filled with all kinds of dangerous beasts and both toxic and man eating plant life. They were among the 99 children that were set loose into the forest with the sole objective to reach the other end alive. All except one was deliberately held back. The two sisters were confused by this as they saw that the girl was older than they were . If they had to guess, she looked to have more experience and strength in her 15 year old body, than they did in one finger.

The two girls were aged from 10-12 respectively as the younger one followed behind her elder sister, but was determined to help her any way she could. Whilst the older sister was determined to protect her younger sibling by any means necessary. The two sisters had been running through the seemingly endless forest until their legs were numb and they looked as though they would collapse from exhaustion. They couldn't stop now, because if they did then they would either be left behind in the forest or the wildlife in the forest would consume them.

After running away from more of the vicious wild life after it feasted on some unfortunate victims, they came across a pack of wild rabid dog type danger beast called a Gifnora Dog. They ambushed them and one of them almost bit into the younger sister's arm. The older sister, determined to protect her younger sibling from harm, plunged her combat knife into the dog's neck. The younger sister quickly reacted and saved her sister in return when another dog tried to surprise attack her when her back was turned, and likewise plunged her own knife into the other dog's neck.

Both of them were then quickly surrounded by more Gifnora Dogs. They fought tirelessly and arduously through waves of wild dogs, plunging, sinking, slashing and cutting down their opponents, determined to protect and help one another as their sisterly bonds made them fight and survive for each other's sake. That was the scene Karasu came across. She instantly recognised these two girls as sisters in blood. The bonds they shared, the love they have for one another, their faith in one another made them strong and they were definitely proving themselves of the potential she saw in them.

"Onee-Chan!" the younger sister cried out when she stumbled and a dog was about to get the jump on her.

The last thought going through Akame's head in that moment was surprisingly not about her sister. Rather, it was more about that girl from before, who in an instant had appeared with a knife in her hand and a decapitated dog's head in the other. The corpse of the same decapitated dog that was about to attack her was on the floor, its its body twitching slightly as it bled out onto the forest floor.

The girl they saw in front of them was very pretty, as well as tall. She reached a height of 5'6, her hair was of a platinum blonde color that was swept back and and reached her lower neck. She wore the same cloak as everyone else, but she had a look of professionalism, confidence, and the strength and the aura of a leader.

"You OK?" she asked her while dropping the head and holding her hand out for her to take. The red-eyed girl stared at her hand in disbelief for a moment before accepting it. She looked at her savoir for a moment until her eyes widened and she shouted. "Behind you!"

Karasu didn't need to be told as she already sensed the rabid dog that was trying to sneak up on her. She spun on her heel and delivered a devastating haymaker punch to the side of the dog's head, breaking its jaw along with a couple of teeth. The only sound the dog made was a pathetic whimper as it died instantly from its devastating injury.

Karasu shook her hand for a brief moment to shake off the blood that was dripping off of it.

"Who are you?" the elder sister asked the stranger.

"Well, seeing as it's common sense that you should be introducing yourself first before asking a name, I'll let this one go seeing that I was the one who was following you."

"You were following us?... Why?"

"Because I can see a lot of potential in the both of you."

"You're lying… there is something more that you are not telling us." The elder girl questioned her and Karasu raised a brow in surprise and was slightly amazed at her deduction."

"Clever girl… well you are half right, I am telling half of the truth. I wasn't lying that I see great potential in you two sisters… and to be honest, you are my favourites to win."

"Why?"

Karasu looked away and went silent for a moment. She focused on nothing in particular with a far off look and expressions of guilt and cold fury. "Personal reasons..." she said before her personality did a 180 flip. "Well any who… my name is Karasu Krähe and this is my second time on this exam. I was suspended from the first exam due to not following orders. "She said flippantly.

"Why?"

"They don't expect survivors in this forest, nor do they want any more than the seven they want. They only want the strongest of the bunch to survive. I'm thinking that somewhere between the first ten survivors to make it to the end of the forest who will be rewarded with a position among the Empire's elite assassination squad led by Gozuki himself. The rest will either be dead or sent elsewhere. I broke that rule they never specified… and I brought all 99 survivors to the other end safely… they did not like that one bit because I set back their plans drastically and Gozuki does not have the time and patience to train 100 kids. Thus, they purposely held me back in order for me not to interfere with the exam."

"Did you manage to save anyone?"

"Not enough… they trained you and the others well, so they all moved quite far ahead before I was set loose. Well it doesn't matter anyway because I don't intend to become an assassin." She shrugged.

"You don't?"

"Nope, I intend to become a general. A general has the most power over the military besides those slimy politicians and the Emperor… oh, wait I didn't get your names?"

"….Akame…this is my sister Kurome." Akame introduced herself stoically, but with a hint of caution. Kurome was shyly hiding behind her sister's back holding a piece of her ragged clothing.

"So you are both sisters huh? Well you can certainly look after yourselves quite well." she praised.

"Thank you." Akame nodded politely while Kurome blushed at the praise.

"However… that's the problem… Gozuki does not accept siblings within the same unit, so if either of you survive this test, you will be split up." Karasu told them and their eyes widened in shock and Akame and Kurome clung onto each other.

"I won't let them take my Imouto/Onee- chan away!" the sisters said simultaneously and they both looked at each other and then towards a laughing Karasu. Karasu cold not help, but smiled softly at the scene and quickly wiped a tear that ran down her cheek as she was reminded of her painful past and separation from her own sister. She faced them again with a look of seriousness.

"Look, I'm sorry that you have to hear this, but it will happen. There is nothing you can do to change that. Out of the two of you, they will most likely pick you Akame- chan, because they will view Kurome-chan as somebody that is too dependent on you. Therefore they will not allow it."

"Tch!" Akame gritted her teeth in frustration. She hated the idea of not being able to help her sister and was even more upset that she did not know what to do to prevent such a thing from happening.

"However, I want to make a deal with you." Karasu offered and Akame raised her head to look at Karasu.

"What is it you want?"

"Let me take Kurome under my wing, because I will refuse to take the assassination roll, she and I will be sent somewhere else. I made a deal with Gozuki that I can pick out potential recruits for my division out of this batch of fresh recruits, the previous ones that I saved and the ones who took the exam before this. I accepted the deal where he will get the best seven recruits, while I get the rejects.

Also, they heard and experienced that I was a talented instructor and leader. So after this, I will be promoted to Master Sergeant and I will be put under the command of an imperial captain and lieutenant. Kurome will be my subordinate and I will personally train her myself, along with the rest of the squads that I will handpick myself."

Akame frowned and clung onto her sister protectively and glared right at Karasu's eyes.

"Why are you so interested in my sister?"

"Because she reminds me of my own." Karasu said sadly. "I saw the potential in the both of you when you were fighting together… Gozuki thinks that your bonds with each other will make you weak... I believe in the opposite of that belief". Karasu explained with a shrug.

Akame and Kurome looked at each other, they silently convened with one another as though they were having a mental discussion.

Finally, they looked away from one another and with a hesitant look, Akame finally looked back to Karasu, "Will you protect Kurome?"

"You have my word; if I fail her like I did with my sister… then you have my permission to hunt me down." Karasu said with seriousness and conviction.

Akame stared into the amber eyes of the 15 year old Karasu and made here decision, just as Karasu proposed another offer.

"Also… I will try and push for her to have training sessions with you, so that I may get permission to personally train the both of you."

Their eyes suddenly gained a hint of hope and Akame relented. "Ok… just make sure that nothing happens to Kurome."

"I will make her strong, this I swear." Karasu smiled and nodded in return. She held out her hand for Akame to grasp onto. Akame replied by grasping onto her hand firmly and shook it.

"Promise?"

"With my life." Akame nodded at that and smiled.

"let's go." She motioned her head to the direction they were headed and Karasu and Kurome followed.

* * *

(1st person POV)

Those two sisters did make it to the other end, I made sure of that… Although, Kurome was exhausted, due to her younger and smaller body and she over exerted herself whilst fighting off those rabid dogs. So Akame had to carry her all the way towards the end to which she insisted on doing. I disagreed on that thoughtful act as it would have only made it look worse for Kurome later on and that it would only prove the proctors' points that Kurome was too dependent on her sister.

Even so, Akame didn't care as she was determined to keep her sister safe. In the end, she still made it to the camp in time to receive the seventh spot on the elite assassination squad. Whereas Kurome was forced to be separated from her sister along with me as I never deserved a spot on Gozuki's dream elite squad. It pained me to see them forcefully separated, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Gozuki was a good teacher, there is no denying that, but his methods were often considered by many to be extremely cruel. The means of how he taught his students was something along the lines of like how he envisioned his students as one big happy family, but he practices a rather severe form of tough love. His students had to earn their 'father's' love and affection and he used that intent to make those children obedient and forged them to become strong, both physically and mentally.

While he considered all 7 of the elite chosen recruits as his own surrogate children, but he imposed severe repercussions if they failed him. The punishments were quite severe, sometimes they would be punished brutally or they were simply discarded like trash… he was a harsh and cruel man, but he taught his students well… even me. Although we never saw eye to eye in some cases.

The Empire at the time was in a desperate state of emergency and were in need of assassins as uprisings, revolts and rebellions were running rampant all over The Empire. It wasn't long before The Empire made a desperate call for a recruitment campaign for deadly assassins in order to quell those rebellions. Even to this day, we still get uprisings that just appear out without warning... like an infestation of rats.

While Gozuki was in charge of the elite seven Akame was in, his colleague, who was present at the time, was in charge of the rejects, namely me and Kurome. However, instead of a team of assassins, the company we were in saw us more as a suicide squad, composed of human cannon fodder. I was considered the leader of the assassin rejects and I personally trained all of them in the arts of warfare such as assassination, tactical espionage, sabotage, infiltration and a variety of other tactics and training exercises. Kurome was one of my best subordinates. She looked up to me as a big sister figure, like she did with Akame. The rest of the squad I was in charge of and the company of assassins that I personally saved and trained myself were like blood brothers and sisters to me. I taught them how to fight… to survive in war… I trained them with what I knew best… War.

Kurome strives to be stronger so she wouldn't let her sister down. She was very eager to prove herself and to me that she was strong, but I knew that she did have her own secret fears of showing weakness. Nonetheless, it was quite refreshing having her around. Although… her condition hasn't been the best these days for some reason… and she has now grown a grudge towards her elder sister to the point where she wants to kill her. I can't help but feel as though I had failed in keeping my promise to the both of them. However, I came to realise that Akame may have been convinced to abandon the empire and i fear that she may join the revolutionaries. I don't particularly blame her… her squad and her friends that were like a family to her had all been killed and Gozuki just suddenly upped and disappeared without a word to anyone. and no one has seen him since, as did Akame.

Regardless of her reasons, I still can't forgive her for abandoning her sister to fight on the side of treachery. However, the matter is out of my hands now… Kurome is now gone and I have not really seen much of her after she had been transferred into a different unit, the Group of Terror I think it was called. I don't know much about it, but from what I do know, it's led by Gozuki's colleague who was also present at the exam. The group also mainly consists of some of the rejects that were not skilled enough to be on the elite seven. However, I find this to be strange because I have seen how some of the members are just as strong as them.

From the moment I was forced to part ways with Kurome, the promise I made to Akame became null and void. I had neither the power nor the means to back up my promises as a lowly sergeant to lieutenant at the time. So, with my fellow comrades from the same company, I set out to look for war. It didn't matter how big or small, what mattered were the results I would be striving to achieve in winning the battles to contribute to our victory at the end of the war. It was the title for the Empire's strongest was what I was looking towards.

During this time, I faced with one of the fiercest and most notorious battles at the time. It was due to a series of unique circumstances during this battle that had gotten me promoted to captain… but it was also the one mission where I was almost court martialled and executed thanks to some snobbish military officers who were mainly from aristocratic families that didn't know shit.

The objective was to reclaim the governor's palace that had been captured by militant rebel forces that was also backed by a foreign western country somewhere on this continent. It was smaller than the Empire, but had a strong military to back up their might and worth on this continent. In response, I along with thousands of men, women and child soldiers on horseback and on foot, were all sent to our deaths just to recapture that bloody palace and the whole intended suicide operation was under the command of this cowardly colonel and his right hand man who was a captain. He had personally lead the charge… from the back, but the rest of my most trusted comrades were following me through the killing fields.

* * *

The scene took place in a Saharan city, south west of the Empire's capital where there was a large open road leading towards the governor's palace **(Think of a large middle eastern palace design** ) that was elevated on a row of stairs filled with well entrenched rebels. They were heavily armed to the teeth with scavenged blockades, trenches, barriers, emplacements for MGs, artillery, rockets and snipers. The palace itself was transformed into a makeshift bunker where the windows were smashed through to fit more machine gun emplacements, as well as mortars and cannons for artillery and rockets.

This was their last stand and they were not giving up without a fight. They gathered whatever men, weapon, supplies and they relocated back at their captured base of operations where they entrenched and fortified themselves and transformed their base into a seemingly near impenetrable fortress. A force of over 500 men was the last line of defence that the resistance had, and they were going to use everything they had to throw at their enemy.

The Empire on the other hand didn't necessarily need to throw much of what they have as they could easily destroy the resistance with their small number of Teigu and Shingu wielders, each with the power to destroy a small to large armies. However, during the skirmish of quelling the resistance in the south western parts of the Saharan kingdom, due to the corruption and the depressing state of the once great Saharan kingdom, people got angry and all it took was for a few people to spout out a few powerful words and to use the people's anger as a weapon against the control of the Empire's clutches.

As a result, the resistance gained massive support from the people in the vassal and neighbouring nations that were pushing to secure their independence from the Empire. However, the Empire responded to their cries of anger with a military force to silence them… and so far, the skirmish proved to be a bloody and brutal campaign that tore through the Saharan city and destroyed many homes and businesses. Thus, the Teigu users were called back and were held back behind their own lines and the commanders instead sent a division to soften their defences and exhaust their resources, ammunition and supplies, while the Teigu users rested.

The man in charge of the first suicide charge was a noble man who bribed and cheated his way into a high official rank, due to having friends in high places. All he cared about was to get the prestige and the privileges of a higher ranking officer and was not necessarily required to participate in the battlefield. Unfortunately for him, he could only acquire the rank of captain and his right hand woman… or girl was a 16 year old lieutenant Karasu who he did not want to be paired up with. To him and a lot of the higher ranking officers, Karasu was the most hated person in the military.

For personal reasons, Karasu was a problem child to them. She undermined the authority of a lot of military officers and generals to which she would object to a lot of their orders and strategies that she did not like or found them to be pointless or just plain stupid. She would also mostly do things her way and then modified those orders and plans and then acted them out in ways that were more advantageous and turned the odds in her favour. The worst of part of it all was that she refused to give them any credit they believed that they deserved. Their attempts to bribe her and threaten her were met with either threats of her own or she merely laughed in their faces.

The colonel was livid to have been placed in a regiment of over 2000 cavalry soldiers whose sole objective was to soften the enemy's defences He was forced to be in charge, but it was his close friend and subordinate that would be leading the charge against them. The colonel did not like that, but he brushed it aside and focused his thoughts towards the potential rewards and spoils of war that he would surely obtain. The thorn in his side though was another matter and he would have to address at a later time.

When he was placed in charge of the rejects, he acknowledged that they were strong, formidable soldiers, but their loyalty was questionable. Many of the soldiers in one of the companies and even in several others looked up to Karasu as their leader. Not him or his fellow officer subordinates, but her.

The colonel tried to put up a front and expressed himself sternly on why he was in charge to her… Karasu's response was a silent contemptuous stare into his eyes that made him shiver with uncertainty inside his being before he slowly backed away from her,

"This plan of yours… is not a good one… we're just glorified cannon fodder to be used to soften up their defences in order to allow the main force to go through. What's more, you plan to take all of the credit, while my men and fellow comrades will be left in the dirt" Karasu scowled at the snake's plan to dispose of her.

"That's the plan. You don't like it? Take it up the with higher brass or piss off." The colonel found himself sneering at her.

Karasu scowled at the colonel's attitude but instead she smirked. "While the plan is atrocious, it's not impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying… instead of sending wave after wave of our troops into the killzone just to die in order for them to exhaust their resources, and supplies. Send me, my company and several others in first and we will break through their defences on the first wave."

The colonel gaped in disbelief before biting his lips to hold in his mocking laugh before he just belted out a guffawing bellow of mocking laughter along with his nearby subordinates joining him.

"You!...HAHAHA! What can a no Teigu using little bitch like you can do? Offer yourself to them so they can fuck you in return for their surrender? Like that will happen, but sure… why not… amuse me while you're there and I'm here." Karasu seethed at that comment and she clicked her tongue in disgust.

"You're not coming?" she raised her eyebrow at his unwillingness to lead the charge.

"Why should I? I am a noble! I will not sully myself with the likes of common rats! It's my job to command these peasants to fight for the glory of your empire and when I say charge… I mean you charge with your life in one hand and your weapon in the other. Do I make myself clear lieutenant?"

"Yes sir" she said seething at this colonel's cowardice, arrogance and flippant excuses just to make himself look important before walking out of the tent. She needed to prepare for the charge and set up a plan to conquer the palace.

"Useless, all of them…. I'll just have to do this thing my way, again."

* * *

 **(Several hours later in the middle of the night)**

Many rebels were on standby and prepared for any threat that would come their way. They had all been equipped with either outdated pieces of equipment, stolen imperial equipment or imported weapons from foreign nations. Their uniforms consisted of cloth like garbs suited for the desert to keep the sun from burning their skin and a shemagh to keep the dust from their faces. Their support weapons varied from water to air cooled mounted machine guns, to mortars and artillery guns of various sizes that could be towed from one location to another using horses. All in all, they were confident that they could repel any incoming threat that the imperials would send their way.

Unfortunately, the threat that they were about to face was far beyond their level of preparation, no matter how much they tried to prepare for it. Many of the rebels that were guarding the trenches at the front of the palace were either acting as lookouts, while others were just sitting down twiddling their thumbs, having their last card game or were drinking with their comrades/friends.

Just as one of the rebels was about to slam down his cards to reveal a straight flush, he noticed that the stone fragments beside his boots were vibrating. With every passing second, the vibration became stronger as the fragments were shaking more and more rapidly. The rebel raised his head out of the trench to took a look outside and noticed a dust cloud forming a fair distance away from the palace. The rebel took out his binoculars and looked down the twin scopes and to his shock and apprehension he spotted a vast army of Imperial soldiers and cavalry riders thundering down the road towards their location.

"Enemy sighted! Prepare the defen- *Boom!*" before the rebel couldn't finish his sentence, his trench blew up from underneath him. This trench was not the only one to explode as the other two behind the 1st lines of defense were also compromised by a great explosion that tore up the road. The rebels within the trenches barely had time to retrieve their bearings before being blown away.

Meanwhile, Karasu was at the front of the charging cavalry making their way towards the palace with binoculars in hand. She smirked at the sight of the flames from the explosions that lit up the night. "That was too easy. For their first line of defense, they were still completely under prepared. Honestly, they were quite lax in their awareness that we could just simply sneak our way up to their rooms and slit their throats while they're asleep."

"Lieutenant! Is this your doing?!" the fat noble captain bellowed in outrage as he spat curses at her.

"Relax chubby, I've solved our dilemma and the way to the palace is now clear." Karasu responded flippantly to the spitting noble commander.

"Are you forgetting? I am the one in charge! I am an imperial captain and you will show me respect!" he bellowed, but his aguments fell on death ears.

Karasu turned her head towards the captain and responded coldly. "... You nobles are not worthy to be considered for respect. We soldiers have always been a resilient people. We toil, while others complain. We persevere when others give up, and when evil stares us in the eyes... We stare right back. THAT is who we are. Your father fought and died for this empire captain and we can do no less!" She responded as she turned around to face the palace. She raised her light support weapon in the air and unleashed her war cry in the air, signalling their charge towards the palace.

The captain froze in terror, unaware that his horse had a mind of its own and it followed the stampede towards the palace as they jumped over the blown up trenches. The last lines of the rebels defences were the elevated platform of stairs and the palace itself where the rebel leader was.

"Here they come!" the leader shouted and was about to give the order to fire, when he was suddenly caught off guard as multiple gun flashes went off and a hail of bullets slammed into their position causing them to dive for cover. At that moment, they lost any chance to counterattack as the heavy suppression of gunfire prevented them from returning fire. The army of a thousand cavalry riders were like a tidal wave of destruction and leading them was the infamous crow of the battlefield changing the tides of war that aimed for a quick and easy finish.

Machine gun nests and the mortar and artillery pits responded with their own payload of vengeance, as they supported the riflemen by preventing the cavalry charge from reaching the palace doors. Karasu tried to weave in and out of the line of fire that was focused on her position, but it proved to be quite difficult as the road could only fit so many horses and riders. It did not help that the aftermath of the explosions had resulted in flaming debris landing all over the area. These obstacles got in the way, making Karasu and her comrades easy targets for the enemy to focus their increased level of fire power.

The horses and the riders next to her were either obliterated by a mortar/ artillery shell and taken out in a gory and charred mess or they were lucky enough to have survived the blast and continued their charge on foot. The flying machine gun and rifle rounds weren't any better as there were so many of them just whizzing past her and almost hitting her head that would've instantly killed her or incapacitated her limbs or torso. Some of the fresher recruits and soldiers not affiliated with her were not as lucky as they had not undergone the same training regiment as Karasu and her forces.

However, as strong as they were, even her comrades and subordinates were not all expected to survive this battle. Many of them had already been incapacitated or had died from the first barrage of bullets and from the mortar and artillery rounds. The situation would have been worse if the enemy had Teigus users with them. What the enemy resistance fighters had was just standard military equipment that any normal and average mortal human being could obtain and use. The Empire's forces, on the other hand, were an entirely different story.

Karasu was trying to focus on her path and directing where her horse should go, while trying to avoid an army of obstacles, bullets and explosions happening all around her. Suddenly, a nearby mortar shell exploded and the shrapnel tore through the horse's neck, causing it to collapse lifelessly on the ground. Karasu took her chances and jumped off the horse and rolled safely onto the ground before taking cover behind another fallen horse. She waited until she saw an opportunity when the focus fire lessened on her area, before moving out. She then spotted the infantry that was backed by the cavalry and led by the captain, who was using the infantry as cover. He was still on his horse in case anything went wrong and he needed to make a quick getaway.

The captain looked to have been bricking himself and his face and hands were trembling like an earthquake further demonstrating is inexperience in fighting on the front lines. He tried to lead to the best of his abilities, but it was not enough. Karasu saw this and just shook her head in disappointment, so she decided to take charge.

She drew in a large amount of air and then bellowed out her orders. " **CUT THEM OFF! SURROUND THEM! STORM THEM! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO DENY THEM THEIR ESCAPE! THEY SHALL NOT BACK OUT OF THIS BATTLE THAT THEY HAVE STARTED! FOR WE HAVE YET TO FINISH IT! GO! MOVE! GO NOW! AND CLEAR OUT THOSE RATS!** " she cried out to every soldier within earshot, be it a child soldier, teenager or grown man or woman. Everyone on the battlefield heard her well and they did not disappoint as they all simultaneously unleashed their war cries and they all charged at the palace with an iron will and a keen eye that focused on every part of the palace in front of them.

Karasu smirked as her plan was starting to show some signs of fruition as the soldiers were motivated towards the objective and their morale rose to the point where they ignored the sign of death hovering over the battlefield. She quickly grabbed her light support weapon with a drum magazine in front of the trigger guard and joined in on the charge.

A few moments later another mortar had struck near another horse causing its rider to fly off into a blown up trench. Karasu looked in the trench and her eyes widens and she moved hasty towards the recovering the girl that landed roughly in the trench.

'I told them she wasn't ready yet. What the hell were they thinking sending her here?!' she scowled as she saw the young, now 11 year old, Kurome lying in the trench. With a dazed expression she looked back back at Karasu, who stared at her newly acquired Teigu in her hand, Yatsufusa. Karasu's eyes narrowed as she questioned where and when she could have possibly gotten that Teigu.

"Get up Kurome! The path is clear and our objective is within our reach!"

Kurome quickly shook her head to rid herself of her dazed expression. "H-Hai! Karasu-Sama!" she nodded her head and saluted.

"What are you doing here by the way? I never gave you permission to take part in this battle? You're still in training." Karasu tilted her head and looked at her in scrutiny, but Kurome looked to be more confident than ever.

"Please let me join you! I want to prove myself worthy to you and that I am strong enough to serve you and our Empire."

"That's nice and all, but where did you get that Teigu?" Karasu asked of her.

"It was given to me by the leader of the rejects, Gozuki's right hand man. He's planning to make his own squad to be on par with the elite seven."

"Is that right?... I suspect that he has approached you and offered you something?"

"Hai" Kurome nodded "He's offered me a place and a Teigu in order for me to get stronger and to catch up to my onee-chan. I'm sorry Karasu-sama, but I really want to consider it." She bowed her head in apology.

Karasu sighed and nodded. "Well, it's not my call if you want to join or not. I don't have nearly enough of authority needed to revoke it. I won't stop you, but that does not mean that you will forget about me, nor will it mean something now that you have a Teigu now." She smirked at Kurome in a friendly gesture to which Kurome smiled back.

Karasu frowned to herself, 'At least, until I reclaim back the Teigu that was stolen from me.'

Kurome then noticed something from behind them when she spotted the aristocratic captain was trying to control his warhorse. He pathetically tried to order it around, while also yanking on the reins harshly and whipping it without mercy to try and make it listen to him. It was clear that he wanted to run away, but the horse was bred for combat and was far too focused on the battle to even consider retreating. Furthermore, its loyalty to the soldiers and other warhorses made it stubbornly refuse its riders orders.

"Ah." She pointed with a blank expression on her face at the cowardly captain. Karasu snarled at the captain who dared to even consider abandoning his men to their fates.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" she got up from out of the trench and prepared to dash straight towards the captain before turning to face Kurome.

"Secure a foothold through their defenses and breach through their lines to let our comrades through. Show me what you can do." Kurome nodded and she disappeared with a burst of speed towards the heavily fortified palace. Back behind the 1st line of defense was an already cracked captain who surrendered to his fear and desperation in an attempt to survive. Without much surprise, he chose the flight option and was trying his hardest to make the horse listen, but the stubborn horse refused and it grunted disdainfully back at him.

"Come on! Come on you stupid horse! My life is too important to be wasted here! Don't make me put you down and serve you for dinner!" he shouted angrily at the horse while whipping it and yanking on the reins.

Suddenly, he felt somebody land on the horse's back from behind him. He turned around and was met face to face with the blank look of Karasu whose expression suddenly morphed into a vicious smile.

"Hi!~ " she sang out and the captain's face morphed into an expression of shock and fear. Then without warning, he found himself thrown off of his horse and landed face first into a sandy and dusty trench.

"Need to borrow him for a sec. I'll bring her back once I'm finished... if you survive like a true soldier that is!" she said to him flippantly before she galloped away on the danger beast class war horse to which Karasu took notice of.

"Hmm… an assault class horse danger beast, said to be the world's fastest, rarest and toughest breed of the horse species, the alpha of all horses." She patted the horse on the neck to calm it down as she took in the sight of a magnificent creature with black fur, a dark grey mane that become lighter towards the tip, red eyes and steel armor covering its head, body and legs. The design and the look was too gaudy to have suited the look of a dangerous war horse that was clearly far more suited for the battlefield judging by the sickle like horn on its head that sparked with dark blue lighting as it coiled around it (Like Ixion from Final fantasy 10).

"Whoa! Calm down girl, let's get you back in the fight soldier!" she grinned as the horse understood her and it turned towards where the fighting was and to Karasu's surprise it took off like a rocket. The hooves pounded into the ground as it sprinted to the source of the fighting eagerly.

Karasu held on tightly as she did not expect the intensity behind the sudden burst of speed when it took off. Also, if she was being completely honest with herself... she was very much enjoying it

She the saw another weapon that was propped up by a body and the barrel of the weapon was sticking upwards enough for Karasu to reach out and grab it. After grabbing the weapon and securing it in her left hand with her current weapon in her right. She then looked ahead and saw that her comrades were in a spot of trouble as the rebels were determined to no let them take control of the palace and they were hammering their positions. She could also see some of her men, who were of a larger build, were rushing out of the trenches to grab onto wounded stragglers and then dashed back behind cover while the other soldiers were either pinned down or had gotten themselves wounded and from the enemy's returning fire.

What they didn't expect was for their leader to come rushing by yelling out "FOLLOW MY LEAD!" before she let out a war cry of her own. At that moment she had gained all of their attention as she let out a long burst of incredibly accurate, suppressive machine gun fire that made all of the machine gun crews and the rifle men briefly stop shooting to take cover behind their walls.

What she did not expect was for the horse to suddenly whip its own head towards the trenches and then a crescent shaped lightning blade shot off of the horn and striking the makeshift defensive wall. When the dust cleared, a gaping hole in the defenses was revealed with debris and scrap metal everywhere.

Karasu blinked and then her mouth twitched and then she laughed joyously. "Sugoi! What a magnificent horse you are! I shall name you Ikazuchi" she patted the horse on the neck which the horse neighed in appreciation.

She then spotted something else of interest when she saw random soldiers just rising up from the dead and started attacking the rebels. They were were swarming the artillery pits and the rebels were desperately trying to keep them out. She even saw one of them pulling out all of the pins of the grenades on his vest and he ran and dove into the artillery pit. A moment later, the artillery shells erupted, sending up chunks of rock and debris and kicking up large clouds of dust and sand everywhere.

Karasu covered her eyes with her right arm and then grinned as she looked at the devastation around her. She saw Kurome standing on a nearby watchtower and she saluted over to her with her chest puffed up proudly. Karasu nodded over to her and then turned Ikazuchi around. They ran through the opening of the defenses all the while shouting out " **THE ENEMY IS BREAKING! SHOW THEM WHO WE ARE COMRADES! CHARGE!** " she cried out loud enough for every person to hear her. Within seconds, all the rebels could hear was the powerful response of her fellow soldiers.

From a birds eye view, it looked as if a flood was pouring in through the cracks of the Palace. In the lead of the flood of soldiers, Karasu broke through the heavily barricaded doors with a burst of highly concentrated lightning and they charged inside. A few moments later, all that was heard were the dying sounds of gunfire, a window exploding and men screaming in agony before dying, as well as out of fear, anger and hate as their weapons clashed with another.

* * *

(Karasu's POV)

That was by far one of my best missions so far. I received my promotion to captain, and was rewarded with several medals of honor, bravery and leadership. However, the military leaders in charge of the operation barely got enough recognition and fame from it as I pretty much did all the work whereas they were caught lazing about and being useless.

Kurome of course had been deployed in another squad that mainly consisted of the recruits that were close, but not as skilled as the members of the elite seven. I wasn't really told much of the details behind that squad named the Group of Terror. I only knew that it was under the command of Gozuki's right hand man. Don't bother asking me for his name, because he never introduced himself, not to mention I do not really care about him… let's just call him the Monocle man. After that, I heard that she was reassigned to another one of the Empire's assassination squads. They were known as the dark squad and their primary purpose was to handle the Empire's dirty work in and out of the country, taking out whatever threats that pose a danger to the Empire. Again, I was not able to receive much information as the information was exclusive only to those holding the rank of general.

After Kurome's departure, I had decided to take a personal matter into my own hands and settle it once and for all. It was time for me to face my past and claim my birth right. The soldiers at the barracks I was stationed at woke up in the next morning to discover that an entire company of soldiers and assassins had disappeared along with several weapons, ammunition and supplies missing from the armoury, the medical tent as well as a few hundred horses.

They came to realise where I had gone when the Empire received the shocking news of what I had done during an event that was hosted by my father.

It all happened during my half-brother's 10th birthday and to celebrate it, my bastard father had decided to host a hunting party. They invited the empire's worst of the worst, politicians, ambassadors, noblemen and aristocrats to come and hunt a load of woodland critters and if they were lucky, a danger beast that they could try to capture and tame. These men were the absolute scum of the upper class society. They lived frivolous and wasteful lifestyles living in luxury, ignorance, arrogance, greed and selfishness. They had no sense of purpose or duty to the Empire and just spent their time and the Empire's on nothing, but gaudy purchases beneficial only to themselves. I did not like that. I hated incompetency, laziness and ignorance. At the time I did not care about any consequences as all that mattered to me was to make my father pay.

* * *

The scene took place in a meadow surrounded by tall and thick forests where a party of noblemen and several important figures of the government were seen on horseback galloping across the grassland in search of a good hunt.

These noblemen and politicians were considered close friends of Victor Krähe and they were all equally corrupted, with Victor being the worst of them all. What people didn't know, was that he, along with the rest of his friends and a few other people were soon going to be involved in a plot to take over the Empire after the current prime minister took over the position after the former one Chouri had left the capital after his retirement and the late emperor's passing. It was a plot that was considered ingenious and had never been done before and would effectively grant them a huge amount of political power and immunity, as well as the full power of the imperial military to use at their disposal. Many noblemen jumped at the chance to live their lives in pure bliss and ignorance. However, the instigator told them that they must wait first as he had a lot of planning and scheming to do in order to get his choice for the emperor to obtain the position. It involved a lot of underhanded tactics in order to get what he wanted during his reign as the current and newly elected prime minster after he succeeded in the rigged elections which he covered up expertly to throw off any suspicions.

Back in the meadows, the group of twenty aristocrats on horseback were seen galloping into the meadows after they were following after their dogs. All of a sudden the hunting dogs and wolves, many of which consisted of danger beasts, had suddenly veered off course and turned a sharp corner through a passageway in the forest. The sudden action threw the noblemen off slightly after they lost sight of them, but they quickly recovered from their startled state and redirected the horses to follow after them, narrowly dodging and brushing aside tree branches.

They then arrived into a large open clearing where they found themselves at the bottom of a large slope and surrounding them was a large build-up of trees, bushes and foliage that was thick, as well as shady. They expected to find their hunting hounds, attack dogs and trained wolves with their prey cornered in this open area, but to their surprise and confusion… they weren't their and it was quiet... too quiet.

The noblemen looked around in worry as they grew more concerned for their own safety and they became paranoid of the position they were in, thinking that they were being hunted by a wild danger beast or a laid out trap and to one person among the group, he believed it to be the latter.

 ***Whistle!*** ( **The same whistle and whistles by the survivors in the Walking dead season 6: last day on Earth)**

The noblemen jumped up in their seats and looked around completely startled at hearing such an eerie sound.

"What was that!?" a startled noble panicked in his seat.

"Was that a bird?"

"No…" Victor Krähe shook his head. "It's human, a hunter."

 ***Whistle!***

Another similar whistle was heard again, this time from behind.

 ***Whistle!* _*Whistle!*_**

Two more whistles were heard again, but from different positions and distance while one sounded rather close and the other further away. After the first few whistles were heard, more whistles resonated throughout the dense forest. The noises were coming from all around the noblemen and it was freaking them out.

"V-victor, wh-what do we do? What are they doing?"

"They're signalling each other… they're getting ready" Victor frowned and his brow started to soak up sweat that accumulated on his forehead.

"What for?"

Victor gulped as he came to realise these hunter's intention, why the dogs and trained wolves ran off, why they led them to a large open spot where they have poor visibility of anything around them, but they were perfectly visible to anyone in the surrounding forest.

 ***Krack!***

A gun shot was heard echoing in the distance that caught all of the noblemen's attention as they snapped their necks towards the direction of where the gunshot came from.

"That… that sounded like it came from where the second hunting party is at"

Another gunshot and then another and several more loud thunderous gunshots that echoed into the sky and the forest followed by more whistles.

"What the hell!?… What is happening!?" one noble panicked on his horse and was about ready to flee.

"It's a trap." Victor frowned and grew more concerned.

"what!?" the nobles turned to Victor and demanded for him to explain.

"It makes sense now. Those hunters have gained control over the dogs and used them against us. We just walked into their trap and have sprung it."

The nobles shivered in fear in their seats and some looked about ready to lose their minds.

"Damnit! Where are the guards! Why aren't they here!?"

"They are supposed to patrol these lands as they are private property, it just goes to show that your men are incompetent and lazy" a noble accused Victor and he returned his accusation with growl before he was interrupted.

 ***Krak!* fwip!***

A gunshot echoed and a high calibre round punched through the back of the noble's head and out of the forehead in a shower of gore, blood and bits of bone. The horse whinnied in fear and bucked the noble off before running off down a random path and over a row bushes.

Victor cursed as he realised the threat and danger his life was now in.

"Run!" he yelled to the other nobles and they all took off back the way they came.

Along the way out of the forest, that at least hoped that the path they came in from would lead out of the forest and back into the meadows. Meanwhile, the whistles were becoming louder and more in abundance and all of them had various pitches to them, some high, some lower, some fast and some slow.

Random horses and noblemen were also picked off by accurate sniper fire, causing the horses and the nobles to collapse like rag dolls onto the side of the road. Victor raised his rifle towards the forest and fired at anything that moved, which was difficult for him to as he could not see inside of the dark shadowy forest. Then there was another shock that came from above. Multiple bodies had been dropped from branches with nooses wrapped tightly around their necks. The sudden drop caused their necks to snap loudly and left the dead bodies dangling off of the branches.

Some of the nobles saw the bodies swaying on the ropes and recognised them as part of their own personal guards, their protection detail and even members of their own family be it, wife, father, mother, siblings and even their own offspring that were past their teens and childhood, but were just as evil and corrupted as they were.

Next to them was a sign written in their blood.

 **"ALL ALONE"**

They rode past the sign and Victor noticed that some of the nobles had stopped where they were when they noticed their families and friends hanging by a branch.

"Credo! What are yo doing get back here!"

"Leave him! He falls behind, he's better off dead!" Victor yelled back at the noble.

 ***Krack!***

Case in point, a gun shot was heard from behind when they turned a corner and they lost sight of the men that fell behind.

They past several more unnerving signs and brutal sights of dead bodies tied to trees by chains and their body parts mutilated. Another sign read…

 **"NO HOPE"**

They rode past it, their fear and their instincts screaming at them to "get to safety, save yourselves!"

By that point they were now losing their sense of direction when they saw a burning cart blocking their path, the cart was filled with dead guards and a massive bonfire was burning the corpses, some of them were even still alive, reaching out to them screaming for help. Another sign was seen on a sign post impaled into the ground, and it read:

 **"NO HELP"**

They panicked and went back the way they came and took another path that led to nowhere. It became apparent when they saw a row of impaled heads on pikes down the path on each side. The heads resembled the heads of family members, friends and more of their own guards.

Once they reached the end of the path, they found themselves in another clearing. They found another sign post and this one read…

 **"ABANDON ALL"**

Victor cursed and was about to turn back, but their way was blocked when two massive trees timbered over and collapsed onto their way out, boxing them in.

Victor and the nobles felt a chill of fear creeping up their spines as they heard the eerie whistling coming closer and they were multiplying. The bushes and numerous shapes of people made themselves known and revealed the people that were hunting them. All of the people that revealed themselves were armed with a variety of weapons ranging from melee weapons, bows, crossbows, rifles, pistols, shotguns and machine guns and all of them were pointed in their direction.

Victor and the nobles relented on committing an irrational action as they knew they were out manned and outgunned.

For the first time in a long time… Victor felt humiliated…

Outsmarted

Tormented

Defeated

Helpless

Screwed

Usually he wins at almost anything, but this time he lost at something… he hated it when he lost at something that he expected to win at… the only time he ever remembered losing was when… he lost the bet that his first born were girls, two of them to be exact.

He had grown so overconfident that he would shake them off of his tail, but they were the ones that led him to where they wanted to go… it was a cunning plan that used their fear to overcome their level of logic, rationality and careful thinking. Their panic and fear had cost them their own safety and they acted irrationally.

Another figure stepped out from behind a large thick tree and into the clearing, the shade of the tree leaves obscured her face along with the woodland camo shemagh that covered the majority of her face as well as the camo paint. She wore a dark grey trench coat along with dark brown combat trousers and black combat boots.

"Good, you made it! Welcome to where we wanted you to go!" a female voice welcomed the nobles with a cheery voice filled with a lace of threat and malice.

"What is this?! Who are you people!? Don't you know who we are!?" one noble ran his mouth off in a show of futile confidence of somebody using political power over a situation where big names meant nothing.

The female ignored the noble and walked forward with her hands pressed on her hips.

" Get off your horses… and we'll take your weapons."

"Who do you think you are in ordering us…"

 ***Bang!***

The girl whipped out a revolver magnum at the man who dared to interrupt her again and blew his brains out with a single shot.

"Now!" she waved her her gun around, pointing it at the rest of the nobles.

Victor glowered at the audacity of this girl who dared to threaten him and the other nobles because she had them in a well laid out trap. She turned to the other nobles and nodded as he got off his horse first and the rest followed suit.

Victor approached the girl and stood in front of her. The girl seemed reasonably tall for a teenager, at least he assumed it was a teenager due to the tone of voice.

The girl turned her head to the men with guns and other forms of weapons and nodded to them. Victor then felt a force of a boot kicking the back of his knees and he felt himself buckling from the force of the kick before collapsing on to the ground on his knees… how humiliating.

"What do you want?" Victor spat harshly at the impudent girl

The girl responded with a chuckle before. "Revenge… and the liberation of my family."

Victor frowned at what she meant by that.

"Your family!? What about ours? What did they do to you!? Was slaughtering them part of your plan!?"

She turned to the person who spoke and eyed smiled. "Of course!" she said in an upbeat manner. "It was infested with rats who held absolutely no use or worth to me whatsoever and don't give me that bullshit of what they did or didn't do… plenty of people will object to that, I'm just doing them a favour. Besides, they were in the way and I didn't want them to dirty and infect my inheritance with their incompetence and worthless corpses."

Victor froze when he heard the word inheritance and shook his head. "No…" he whispered. "No…nonono… it can't be!"

The girl smirked behind the cloth mask and chuckled and then began laughing mockingly at him before removing the shemagh scarf from her face to reveal a smirking grin smiling cruelly at her deadbeat father.

"Hello father." She said bitterly, but at the same time overjoyed to have finally reunited with her father.

Victor froze in shock, fear… and increasing rage.

"You… you were supposed to be dead! Gozuki promised me that you would!" Victor screamed like a petulant child.

"He lied… even if he could he can't because he sees the potential in me and my potential towards the Empire's benefits and interests."

Victor growled to himself as he glared seethingly at his disowned daughter.

"Now do you acknowledge me father? Do you acknowledge the way I toyed with you and your fellow rats around this forest and played with your fears, controlling them to my whim and led you here? Admit it, you are… I bet my half-brother Clovis hasn't done anything remotely impressive as this… which reminds me, how is he by the way?"

Victor growled and chose to remain silent, which only prompted Karasu to click her tongue at his silence.

"By your silence, I'll take that as a… not well. And I'll tell you why your shoddy attempt of producing and raising an heir failed." She cleared her throat and explained Clovis's life so far.

"The manner on how you envisioned Clovis to be, is anything but a suitable heir. He is dumb, he has showed no progress in his studies and has barely any knowledge regarding military affairs that you have tried to cram into his small and shallow mind. I, on the other hand, successfully managed to memorise many military strategies by the time I was five years old.

He has grown fat, disgusting, cowardly and lazy. I trained at a young age to surpass my limitations and weaknesses by confronting them head on, while he chose to run away from his problems. He has grown cold and cruel, he shows no respect or care for his subordinates and that there is a problem. If you don't show respect, trust or care for your subordinates and comrades then you will find yourself alone and helpless with no one to save you or have your back in the battlefield.

Tell me something, was it worth it?" she looked Victor in the eyes and saw him narrow his eyes and averted his gaze away for a second.

"He's only ten…"

"So was I when you sent me to the military to be part of Gozuki's pet project. Since then, I've grown a lot stronger, smarter and better than when I was his age, face it… your so called plan to produce your heir, it didn't work. He has no power over me, and neither will you."

"What do you mean?"

Karasu smirked as she fished out a will in his **(forged)** perfect handwriting that stated that he wishes to hand all power, territory, funds and every inherited property over to Karasu as well as the protection of Hikari and Misaki Krähe over to her.

Victor growled at this. "You…bitch. You will never get away with this."

"Hn! I already have… boys!" she turned her head back and called out to some of her own men who came out behind the treeline with multiple dogs, both trained and wild. The nobles quickly noticed that they were the same ones that ran off from them.

Karasu walked up to the dogs and began petting them. "Now… these fellows have been telling me that you were not kind to them, or more specifically your son was a cruel master that took joy in torturing their puppies when offered to him as a gift. He even kicked them when the mothers was unable to move due to labor pains and were chained to the wall, helpless to do anything as they just watched on devastated as their pups were left to die a most unfortunate and cruel death.

Of course, you were no better. You treated your dogs as if they were cattle and broken trophies to be thrown away. You seem to like hunting, and so do they… it's what they're bred to do after all... so I propose a fun and entertainment game for all of us."

One of the nobles gulped at the meaning but decided to ask anyway. "A-and what would that be?"

"Simple… they'll be the hunters… and you are the prey, got it?" she tilted her head at the nobles who all blanched in fear taking several steps back.

"Good… now run." She said but the nobles were all rooted to the spot.

Karasu sighed and took out her revolver and fired a shot into the air

 ***Bang!***

"I said, **RUN!** " she screamed out and her furious cry set off the herd of cowards as they all ran into the woods with their tails between their legs. The horses were taken away from them when they got off of so they were forced to run on foot, which to them was currently impossible as not a whole lot of them were physically fit. The majority of them were either fat, scrawny, old, or frail and only a few that had the appropriate muscle definition with Victor being the prime example.

Victor took the chance to run a second time, this time he would succeed and make it back to his manor and find his son before Karasu does, but that will be difficult and next to impossible as he had a lot of attack dogs, hunting hounds and danger beasts on his tail that were out for his blood and were very eager to tear into his flesh. The hunters/ soldiers that were loyal to Karasu were scattered all over the forest, keeping a strict watch over the prey. They were ordered to intercept anyone that was either close to escaping or if they killed or wounded one of her men.

The noblemen that had lost all sense of rationality due to fear, panic and desperation over their very lives, didn't think twice about running away despite what was waiting them in the forest further ahead. There were makeshift traps made from sharp sticks buried into dugout trenches covered with thin branches, grass and leaves. Noose traps where one wrong foot can leave you suspending in the air by your feet and in a bad position to having your face mauled off by hungry danger beasts lurking in the forest.

There were also lookout posts and sniper nests that covered the more open areas and would not hesitate to shoot anyone that came into the centre of the cross-hairs of their sniper rifles.

As soon as the noblemen and Victor ran off, Karasu turned away and began to make her walk towards her family's manor.

"Captain, are you sure you don't want to kill him now?" one of her men asked her.

Karasu turned her towards her subordinate with a tilt and mused to herself. "No… not really, he's not really worth it. You guys can have your fun with him. Just don't let him escape or underestimate him. We Krähe have always be known to be adaptable in any combat scenarios, but you should know that by now as you have been trained by yours truly." She smiled to her subordinate who in return saluted with a swell of pride in his chest.

"Yes mam! Thank you very much!" the soldier saluted before dashing into the forest and went after the nobles via treetops.

Karasu turned around and made a mad dash for the manor, eager to find her family and save them. She just hoped that she wasn't too late.

(10 minutes later)

She arrived at the courtyard of the manor to see that there had been a massacre. Prior to leaving to hunt her father and the nobles, she had ordered a platoon of her own soldiers to raid the manor and purge all of the guests that she deemed unnecessary to keep alive. Through her own intelligence and scout reports, she made a list of the profiles of all of the house guests that had arrived at the manor. There weren't a lot of nobles there at first, as the Krähes were still under a lot of pressure by the aristocratic society as well as the civilian populace.

Karasu ordered the attack and the execution of several noteworthy families in order to acquire their territory, money and resources. All in all, several of the families killed were nobodies in particular and were technically traitors to the Empire.

Karasu arrived at the front door and a group of soldiers led by a sergeant who looked as old as 19 were waiting for her to arrive. As soon as she stood in front of them, they all saluted in unison.

"Mam!"

"At ease. What's your report on the situation here?"

"We've purged anybody capable of inheriting all of the fortune and personal effects of the targeted noble houses except for the children. They have no clue it was us that did it."

"Good, that way we have easy access into their lands and their resources. They must never know it was us who are responsible. If they were to learn any information regarding today's events, then their is the possibility that their deaths may inspire them to become avengers. Due to their young age, they may not understand why we did it. For all intents and purposes, the people we killed were traitors to this nation and were planning to cripple it even further… I will not allow that." Karasu spoke in a tone of conviction.

"We also found this… we thought that it may be of use to you." The sergeant handed over a book with the word 'Journal' on the front cover.

"Well what do you know… Father's journal" she scrutinised the book in her hand and skimmed through a couple of pages worth of entries and also flipped a few pages to the most recent entries. She scoffed at a few of them and also scowled at some of the ones that disgusted her most.

"Who the fuck writes their evil plan in a diary/ journal where just about anyone can find out about it. Every detail of it is explained in here and the people involved." She shook her head and pocketed the book in her inside pocket.

"Did you find them" she spoke with stern haste and concern.

The soldiers almost hesitated in answering her question until the sergeant answered for them. "We have searched every room and we have found nobody matching your description apart from the servants. Most of them were maids that were more used as sex slaves rather than servants. The butlers, on the other hand, were more used for slave labour. Other than that, we're still searching."

Karasu gritted her teeth as she had a feeling that they were somewhere in the house. "I know they are here, there are secret rooms in this house, some of them are used as shelters, secret hiding places, others for…" she went quiet as dark look appeared on her face.

"Come to think of it, Clovis wasn't part of the hunting party and nor was he part of the second one. That means he was here, but he's not been reported dead… so where is he hiding?" she mused to herself in deep thought, until she got an inkling of suspicion of where he might be.

She made her way to her half-brother's bedroom and kicked the door open off of its hinges. Granted, it was totally unnecessary, but she had a lot of tension built up and she needed the release and someone to kill.

She looked all over the room with a keen eye and looked all over for any clues of his whereabouts. The room itself was lavish and filled with everything a ten year old would want. Things like toys, comics, as well as manga which were very popular in the Empire. She also noticed that there was a dried blood stain on the carpet and there was a trail of it leading to the bookcase where the trail ended at. She also noticed that there were scratch marks on the book case, as if someone had been resisting.

A soldier had also noticed and added his own input, "Oh it's one of these. It shouldn't be too hard as the button or lever should be in this ro-"

 ***Crash***

The soldier was then interrupted by the sound of Karasu kicking the bookcase to splinters. Karasu walked through the dimly lit open stone stairs that led down into a secret room. To the soldier, he just deadpanned and sweat dropped to himself, "Huh, or we could do that. It's not like we've got the time for that… who does anyway?"

When Karasu finally found the door, she reached for the handle and opened it. However, what she find on the other side of the doorway, was what she secretly feared. Inside was a torture room filled with numerous torture devices ranging from the types designed for brutal and humiliating torture and tools such as the Iron maiden, the neck spike ring, the heretic's fork, the lead sprinkler, the thumb screw, the rack, tongue tearer, the rat torture, breast ripper and the donkey (The Spanish donkey).

Karasu saw the horrific sight of men and women both young and old all strapped and restrained into these numerous devices. Some of them were alive, while the rest were either passed out, dead or dying. They winced at the light and at her presence, shivering in fear of her presence.

She approached a young women that was chained to the wall and covered with deep lacerations caused by a whip and her face was equally cut and bruised. She appeared to be in her late teens to early twenties. Karasu's eyes widened as she recognised this young woman as her and her sister's personal maid. She had always liked her personally, as she always possessed the spirit of a fighter and was not afraid of anything... but now she was reduced to this… alone, afraid, in pain and no fight left in her.

"Please… don't hurt me." she whimpered as she pleaded for no more pain. Her eyes were closed and her head facing away from her.

"Chloe...look at me."

Chloe flinched at hearing her name, but she stopped trembling once she realised that the usual torturer that usually comes was not a girl. She opened her eyes and they immediately widened as she recognised her mistresses' daughter.

"Karasu-sama! You're back!" she whimpered, crying tears of joy.

"Where are they? Are they okay?" she crouched down and looked at her straight in the eye, demanding an answer from her.

Chloe didn't answer but motioned her eyes towards two figure's that were chained to the wall in the far corner of the room. Both of them were in rags and the taller and older one was resting her head on the younger ones lap, covered in a ragged and tattered old blanket.

Karasu jumped up and ran straight over to them, skidding to a halt right in front of them. Her breathing hitched in her throat and it swelled up with a myriad of emotions building up within her. Her sister looked worse for wear…hell, she looked downright dreadful. She was pale, suffering from malnutrition, covered in scars and bruises, her eyes were black from numerous bruises and lack of sleep and her long wavy blonde hair had dulled in color. IN short, she was a complete mess.

"Hi-Hikari…" she croaked with tears pouring out of her eyes.

The twin sister cracked open an eye and the first thing she saw was a familiar face she recognised from long ago.

"O…Onee-chan." She smiled softly. "I knew you would… return." She smiled and she lowered her head and looked at the head lovingly as she stroked the mess of blonde hair. "O-Kaa-chan… it's her… Karasu-Onee chan is back." she whispered to the head as Hikari tried and struggled to move the body under the sheets.

Karasu froze as she saw her mother, she looked a lot worse than hikari, her face was covered in dirty bandages and the only thing she could see behind them was the dull emerald/ amber eyes that looked unresponsive.

"Hikari… why isn't she moving?... why isn't she… speaking to me?"

"She's sleeping Onee-chan… she's just tired…"

"You… you don't mean that…"

"No… she is still there, it's just… she can't hear us. The pain… it was too much for her and… I couldn't help her… they took Medicus away from me." Hikari began to sob as she hugged her mother's head as a few droplets of tears dropped onto it.

Karasu's eyes darkened and her fists tightened as a noticeable growl escaped her throat. She lifted her head and looked over to the other tortured people still in the room as they watched the scene with equal sadness. They understood the pain that she was feeling as they were quite fond of the mistress of the house.

"Where is he? Where is that little shit?!" she growled as her right eye shone with a menacing light. The servants didn't answer, but they all looked over at the iron maiden where she noticed an open gap in-between the door. Suddenly, a sharp gasp was heard and the door to the cabinet creaked to a close.

Karasu was no fool and was instantly aware of the little prick's location. In less than a second, she dashed over to the metal torture sarcophagus and kicked it over. The coffin crashed onto the ground with a mighty clang and a scream was heard from the inside, followed by a stream of crimson blood leaking out of the open gaps of the door.

Karasu opened the door to the sight of her sniveling bastard brother, cowering and whimpering inside of the metal coffin with a spike lodged into his arm, leg and hip.

"So… my little half-brother… born from a bastard father and a common street whore. The supposed true heir to the house of Krähe... how disappointing." She shook her head.

"Damn…you. When I get out of here… my dad's going to-..."

"Daddy's not coming back for you I'm afraid. It's just your darling eldest sister right now. So now I'm going to do something that I've always dreamed of doing and should've done all those years ago."

Clovis looked her in the eyes and he wished he hadn't, because he saw all the malice and hatred she had kept bottled up for all those years she had been away. "Wha-what?"

Karasu grinned "Reclaiming my inheritance and rightful place as heiress… something you clearly don't deserve."

Clovis's eye widened and his face morphed into an ugly scowl of resentment as he strongly objected and refused to accept the statement. He began to throw a temper tantrum like a petulant child, all the while blubbering like a screeching baby. "NOOO! You won't take my rightful place away from me! I'll kill you! I'll kill them! I'll make you watch them have their guts torn out from them before I do the same to you… I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!..."

 ***Slam***

His tantrum was interrupted by Karasu as she kicked the door where the spikes were lodged into his arm, hip and leg, causing them to dig further into his limbs and his hips as the door buckled from the force of Karasu's kick. The force behind the blow, caused a deep dent to form on the door, which resulted in the spikes on the other inside to lodge themselves deeper into those three separate areas as well as scraping along other areas around the previously mentioned parts of his body.

Clovis screeched as the spikes dug deeper into his flesh, tearing through muscles and scraping across his bones. Karasu walked up to Clovis and knelt down to his level and stared coldly into his eyes, "I've had enough of you now… you are weak, fat, lazy, snobbish, petulant, arrogant, ignorant, dumb… and a lot of other things that I find revolting and those were just a few examples. I have no idea what that bastard of a father sees in you… and to be honest, I'd rather not know. Fact is… you have no use here. You are clearly unfit for the position as the head of this house, not because you are only 10 years old… but it's obvious of how you're going to turn out judging by what you just did to my family… and for that reason… I can't let you live." Karasu said to him in a threatening tone before tearing him off of the torture device which caused him to scream further as he felt the spike leaving his open wounds.

The boy kicked and screamed while Karasu roughly dragged him back upstairs, while he made futile attempts to resist her. Unfortunately for him, he was utterly powerless against her strength and steel-like grip. Karasu arrived back in Clovis's room before hoisting him up with one arm and held him at eye level. "Piece of advice for you, never scorn a mother, nor an elder sister like me." she said before throwing the boy out of the window with a crash and the boy screamed as he fell to the ground with a thud.

Karasu walked over to the window and looked down from the second floor window and spotted her half-brother had landed on the semi soft grass. Clovis twitched and whimpered before trying to crawl away.

"Well I'll be… he survived at that height… granted it's only from a two story drop. Still, that is unfortunate for him, because he won't be able to run from them." she smirked before bringing two fingers to her mouth.

 ***Whistle!***

A long and loud high pitched whistle echoed throughout the acres of forest that surrounded the estate. What replied was a howl that made Clovis freeze with fear as he knew what was coming for him.

"No…Please sister! Please don't let them eat me!" the snivelling boy pleaded desperately for his sister to show mercy.

Karasu with one foot on the window sill peered down and looked indifferently to her brother.

"And why shouldn't they? After all, wasn't it you that has been torturing their family. Just like you did with mine?" she said to him with a cold and unforgiving look in her eyes.

"Please!... I'm sorry! I promise I won't do it again! I… I 'll give you anything!"

"... Nah, I happen to find and clamed just what I wanted back from you. Sooo~... sorry, you don't have anything that will sway me… you could try your luck with them, but… I get the feeling that human sentiment such as pity or mercy doesn't mean shit to them right now." she smiled before pointing over to the treeline where a couple of wild wolves and dog class danger beasts came prowling out of the treeline growling and snarling.

Clovis remained still as he was shaking in his boots and a notable wet stain began forming on his shorts as yellow piss began to drip down his leg as he felt the killing intent from the wild beasts and animals.

Back on the second floor, Karasu grinned with great anticipation as she licked her lips to moisten them before making a signal for them to start their hunt for the little rat. She started off with a slow loud whistle that was loud enough to be heard and set off the pack that could hardly wait to sink their teeth and claws into the rat that dared to harm their pups.

 ***Whistle!***

With that, they were off with the alpha male of the wolf danger beasts, being the quickest, dashing ahead of the pack towards their prey. Clovis had all but seven seconds to get up and run for it, but by then it was already too late. His eyes widened as he felt the alpha males teeth sink into his clothing and was sent flying into the air by the alpha who threw the corrupt little demon into the air. Clovis watched in fear as the rest of the wild beasts all caught a piece of him by their teeth as he came falling down. The moment he touched the ground, he screamed in agony as they all tore into him.

Karasu leaned over the window sill resting both arms as she watched in silence, not saying a word… instead, she just reveled in watching the little monster die by being ripped apart in such a gory fashion. Her men likewise also watched on in silence, undisturbed by the scene… After all, the little boy was anything but an innocent child… he committed an unforgivable act and such actions would not be pardoned just because he was a child. The punishment was quick, but brutal.

Karasu watched on with vicarious fascination of how the wild beasts and animals just savagely ripped him apart. She knew there was something wrong with that, but she felt content with just watching them kill him when it should've been her who had the honour. She had every right to, but so did they. The thrill experiencing his death filled her with a sense of relief.

However, she wasn't done yet, because another one of her personal targets for her vendetta was coming her way.

 ***Bang!*** a loud whine filled with pain from a hunting dog echoed through the property of the manor as it collapsed onto the ground. It was killed instantly from a round from a high calibre hunting rifle. Karasu looked towards the treeline and saw her father limping out from behind the trees filled with rage and desperation as he fumbled around in his pocket to retrieve a bullet to feed into the rifle's chamber.

"Get… the fuck… off of my son!" he grunted when he finally pushed the round into the chamber and pushing the bolt forward.

 ***Bang!***

The next round was aimed to hit a danger beast right right in its, but only ended up skimming it, causing it to go blind in its right eye. The danger beast recoiled it's head back and in sheer pain, but it recovered quickly and stared back with its remaining eye with open hostility.

Karasu clicked her tongue "I told them not to underestimate him. Even though he is the head of the House… he is still a military strategist, soldier and general who is resourceful in situations like this." she sighed, but soon shrugged the thought off "well, despite all that…. I'm actually glad he came as I really need to…" she stopped her train of thought as something caught her eye. Hidden underneath Clovis's bed, were two familiar cases. "Hello, what's this?" she mused before she reached over to the cases, which she eagerly opened. Once she did, she smirked to herself.

"Well would you look at that... at least I'll give him my thanks for holding onto these."

Back outside Victor was desperately trying to fight off all of his former hunting danger beasts that he and his son treated cruelly. He used his own rifle as a club as he bashed all of them away as he made his way over to what used to be his son, the body now torn and ripped apart beyond recognition.

He noticed that none of the soldiers nearby didn't make any move to intercept him. At first he was puzzled, but that faded away as he was about to reach his son, but before he could reach him.

 ***Crack!***

A metallic whip cracked against his chest with an explosive amount of force that would've shattered his sternum. The force of the whip sent him flying at least 5 meters away from his son before crashing onto the ground on his back. He wheezed painfully, as all of the air was forced out of him and a nasty gash began to form on his chest. He shakily lifted his head up to see the person who would dare deny him to reach his son when he needed him.

He looked up and to his absolute horror, and hatred, he saw that the culprit was none other than his daughter, who was wielding the Teigu that was given to him by his father before he passed... Although, technically this wasn't true as it was actually passed on to his eldest brother who had been far more adept, as well as far more suitable for it. Much to his shame and envy, he knew that he could never outdo his bother. But later on, he died due to an assassination attempt that also killed the assassin as well. So, in the end Victor was the one to inherit it, but he could never use it as the whip never accepted him.

To see his heirloom in the hands of his eldest child and to see her use it with great mastery and proficiency, even though she had been separated from it for years, it felt like a mockery towards him. Karasu sauntered over to him in a relaxed, yet threatening manner, twirling the whip Teigu in her left hand as she approached him. Victor tried to reach inside his coat pocket in order to whip out the revolver he once used to shoot Karasu when she was a child. Just as he whipped it out, it was shot out of his hand in an instant by Karasu whose reflexes and accuracy were far superior to his own.

Victor winced in pain and glared at Karasu, in a vain attempt to keep up his tough and defiant image. "H-how did you get… this good…why do you look… strong?"

"I am strong, always have been… unfortunately for you, you sold me off to the wrong people, as they were the reason I got stronger… too strong in some people's words. Where I am at now… I would say I'm a lot stronger than you are right now. As we speak, I continue to grow stronger as I grow older and develop more into an adult. My potential right now… is a mystery, I don't know where my limits will reach, but so long as I fight I will keep growing stronger. The more I grow up, physically and mentally, and the more I train, the more I fight, the more wars I take part in, the stronger I will become." she chuckled as her eyes glinted with their unique amber light.

Victor's eyes widened and choked on his breath, as he started to tremble. With every word she spoke, his mind seemed to be cracking more and more and nearing its limit. "N-no… you can… hear them… you can hear them better than I... Why do they favour you most? Why you and not me ?… I'm the head of this house… it should be me!"

Karasu sneered in response to his whining about the crows. "Those crows as you have mentioned have always favoured the strongest in the family. You have never heard nor have you earned the right to hear them… you're just imagining things… You're just insane and nothing, but a schizophrenic who deluded himself into hearing these so called "Voices of the Crows" where you were purely motivated by greed, anger, and pride that led you insane in the first place. Whether or not it is true, that the Teigu you speak of is truly corrupted just like it did to our ancestors..."

"Prometheus… is the key to world domination and peace… it must be found… so that we can-" Victor hissed out before he was interrupted.

"Prometheus will be found of course, I'll see to that personally. But you won't be around to see it, nor touch it. Such a tool must not be abused for such shallow things like personal pleasures, selfish desires and multiple reasons that only benefit yourself. Pettiness and unreasonable hatred is another long list of reasons why it shouldn't go to you. For you only care for yourself and no one else."

"And what makes you so different!? You're just like me… a crow… you cannot deny it... you love war… you've always took part in it… what makes you any different from me?"

"Unlike you… I am loyal to this Empire and to my family. The Empire is the only place I can call home, despite the state it is coming to. I also don't fear change, whereas you fear that change can possibly affect you more negatively rather than benefit you… you will try and prevent it from happening, therefore you run like a coward and deny anything regarding it until it comes back to bite you." She said before wrapping the whip around her hand. "And that is exactly what is going to happen right here, right now… it is time for your punishment fat-… no... Victor. You lost all right to be my father since you never carried me once. Not even when I was a little child or a baby for that matter. Furthermore, for making my mother and sister suffer… I will enjoy every single bit of this… if you are worth your metal as you say you are… then I hope you do survive this as long as it takes for me to break you." She said to him before she raised the whip in her hand, and the tip sliced through the air as she brought it down, cracking it against Victor's face.

Victor cried out in agony as the pain from the whip was unbearable. He couldn't fathom why though, it shouldn't hurt like this. It felt as though he had been hit with the force of a sledge hammer.

"As you should know, this whip has the ability to intensify pain through multiplying the victim's pain output. So if you were to be slapped around the face by a scorned woman, then that slap will be multiplied to the force of an enraged professional boxer. That was on X2 output by the way… and you don't look so good."

"Fuck ….you." he hissed out through clenched teeth as blood poured all over his face from the scar that had been cut across the bridge of his nose.

"Glad to see that you still have some fight left in you. For that, I'll raise it to the third output." She grinned before she raised the whip and struck him across his chest. The force launched him to his back and he let out a silent shout as the pain became so intense that he began to tremble from the pain as he writhed on the ground.

"Oh…guess not then…" she said in an aloof manner before she scowled and growled out in anger. She wanted him to put up more of a fight, yet here she was rewarded by seeing him in a pathetic position that looked as if he was a cowering child. She didn't like that… he always thought he was the strongest for a reason, and she had always driven herself to be stronger than her father… until she realised that she had always been stronger than him. In reality, it was her father that was the weakest of the family. He had been the one who fell to madness instead of the great man her mother always mentioned.

She found herself, disappointed. "Where is your pride!? Where is your fortitude, your willpower, your strength!? What the fuck am I looking at now!? Who the fuck do you think you are!? You have the audacity to call yourself the strongest!?"

"P-please… don't… hurt me." Victor whimpered and Karasu froze as she saw tears flowing down his cheeks and this made her even more furious.

"I. don't. think. so." She growled, before she started to relentlessly whip her father into a slow agonising death. With each strike, she screamed out her fury against the so-called father that she had always striven to surpass. In the end, all she found was the feeling of pure disappointment. He had let himself go long ago, allowing himself to grow weak and pathetic. Along with avenging her family fuelling her anger, her hatred and her vengeance… she mercilessly continued to whip her father completely unaware that he had long since stopped screaming about five minutes later before his skin and his muscles were torn off of his body.

"Onee-chan!"

Karasu froze in the spot and immediately turned around, her emotions drained instantly as she saw her sister still dressed in her rags clutching the collar of her dress and she looked into her sister's eye with hesitancy, but also resolve as she started begging her "That's enough… he's had enough."

Karasu looked over to the body of her father and saw that he had stopped moving. "Perhaps… the coward's gone… he deserved so much more than that, and he denied me the right, again… fuck it. I don't care anymore… they're gone." She walked away from the body, even ignoring the fact that the danger beasts were prowling near the corpse of her father. She intentionally ignored them just so they could feed off of his corpse.

"Take him… do what you want." She said nonchalantly to the wolves who snatched him away and they all disappeared into the forest with the sound of bestial growling and the ripping and tearing of flesh behind the treeline.

Hikari, although she had a kind and gentle heart… didn't say a word, nor did she bat an eyelash to see her father and half-brother getting brutally killed and tortured. But Hikari had major concerns for her elder sister as she came to warn her.

"Onee- chan! You need to run!" she tried to warn her before it was too late. At that moment a bolt of lightning slammed right next to them and standing in the spot where the lightning had struck was the gigantic form and presence of a tall, muscular man in his late 30s, early 40s with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. The giant of a man wore a dark grey suit of armour that was actually his Teigu, Adramelech, which allowed him to use lightning based attacks with great proficiency.

He moved as fast as a lightning strike, which explained how he had arrived to the scene so fast and caught Karasu by surprise. He arrived onto the scene absolutely furious as he came and witnessed the brutal murder of a noble of the Empire as well as having seen the bodies of several other noteworthy nobles and their families all but wiped out, as Karasu intended to spare a few. The lightning that was arcing around his body, reacted according to his anger and the power he was releasing was oppressive and unnerving towards Karasu's own followers as they held their weapons at the ready. At that moment, multiple men appeared from behind the treeline and surrounded them.

Karasu's brow developed a small droplet of sweat as she did not expect the Great General Budo of all people to come and apprehend her. He was the last person she wanted to face.

"Great general Budo... to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting someone who even bothered to come and apprehend me. I always heard that you never even leave the training grounds" Karasu attempted to lighten the tension but was rewarded with a scowl that made her flinch in the spot.

"This is an exception, you have committed a grave crime and you have abandoned your post. Explain yourself."

"Well…" Karasu attempted to explain her reason, but she found herself cornered against the wall like a petrified kitten up against a Rottweiler baring it's teeth at her.

"Ano!... I can explain that her reasons were justified!" Hikari cut in on their heated discussion just in time before Karasu had the chance to say anything. Karasu's breathing hitched in her throat and looked over at Hikari with a shocked expression.

'What the hell are you doing Hikari-Chan?! Do you know who you just interrupted?'

Budo narrowed his eyes at Hikari who was dressed in rags and looked absolutely famished, weak and beaten. He scrutinized the girl, eyeing her suspiciously. "Speak! Why shouldn't I arrest this girl for multiple offences that could result in her being court marshalled or even executed."

Hikari swallowed nervously, but her brave face remained. "Because…" she fished out the journal that Karasu somehow dropped out of her pocket when she wasn't looking or paying attention to, along with multiple other books that had her father's name on them. "She is a hero that ousted a traitor that had plans to overthrow our Empire along with the other nobles here!" she threw the books over to Budo who caught one but ignored the rest as they landed right by his feet.

He skimmed through all of them in a matter of minutes, before he seethed with even greater rage. He nodded, accepting the facts before him. "Very well. Your actions are justified, but that does not mean that you are off the hook yet! as of now, you work for me, understood!" Budo's eyes narrowed and darkened when they locked onto Karasu's who froze on the spot and gulped.

"Y-yes sir!" she meekly saluted as her head sank as she knew there was going to be a major shitstorm when she returned to the capital. Budo will see to her punishment or whatever fate that will be waiting for her back at the capital.

* * *

"... And that's the story of my life!" she smiled as she pointed at the ceiling.

"Huh?... that's it?"

"For now, yes" Karasu nodded.

"But… what happened to you then? What was your punishment."

"I was to be put on probation after I graduated from the officers academy that Budo sent me to." Karasu's head dropped. " I knew it was a necessary step to further my career if I wanted to obtain the rank of general, but that place…" she shuddered. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Naruto likewise shuddered as he was reminded of his own hellish experiences in that kami forsaken academy filled with bullies, fan girls, and sometimes fan boys, corrupted teachers, cheats, intolerance, injustice, arrogance, favouritism, as well as biased and ignorant views on himself and what a shinobi should be. Naruto would most definitely understand her experience if the military academy were similar to the shinobi academy back in Konoha.

"Well… on the bright side, I wasn't alone as I made an arrangement with Budo to have my sister attend with me." she smiled at that.

"Wait… what about your mother?"

"My mother…. she's still asleep… as in she's still in a coma." Karasu smile faltered and she looked away.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

Karasu waved it off. " it's fine. My sister healed most of her wounds and she cured her malnutrition by using her Teigu Medicus to replenish her body's nutritional needs while she was unconcious, as well as her body's water levels. It's an amazing Teigu I'll tell you, but it's main weakness is that it can only cure physical injuries, not mental."

"So what you are trying to say is that...?"

"Yes, my mother is still in a coma because she faced a lot of mental trauma. The strain of losing me, along with her husband's descent into madness and the brutal torture that disfigured her became too much for her. My sister did all that she could to help her, but no matter how strong she was or how long she held out for, my mother had reached her limit. She hasn't woken up since… and despite the fact that Hikari can force people out of a coma, she doesn't want to wake her up yet. She said she must rest peacefully first before waking her up."

"I see." Naruto lowered his gaze as he was reminded of his surrogate mother, Mikoto Uchiha who was in a similar position after the brutal massacre of the Uchiha clan. No doubt she would've been left heartbroken at the fact that her eldest son went mad and massacred her clan and that her youngest son, Sasuke, had been driven mad by revenge and acquired a thirst for power in order to achieve his revenge. Therefore, he became the atypical Madara class of Uchiha, the worst kind of Uchiha, or at least he was getting there at the rate he was going.

"Along with my sister, we spent about 2.5 to 3 years in the academy. As time went by, it wasn't so bad, because I made friends with my best friend Esdeath Partas and an older student, Najenda."

"I have heard mentions of you talking about Esdeath, but I've never heard of a Najenda?"

"We've not really seen each other for some time, mainly because she's also a general as well as Esdeath."

"Why? You've got the qualities and the skills for a general. Why shouldn't they give you the rank of General?"

"Mainly because I'm still under probation, As far as punishments go, I'm still restricted to the rank of Lt. Colonel, which I was promoted to right after the scandal that my father was involved in." She frowned. "But… as you probably already know… it didn't work. There were many more conspirators that were involved and there was not a single bloody mention of their names, Prime Minister Honest's own name or any subtle hints that it was him behind the entire plot. To be quite frank, they dodged a fucking bullet on that one, because not a mention of his name was found in any of my father's journals. If his name had been written down, then that would've solved a lot of problems that the Empire is facing today." Karasu crossed her arms before she shrugged.

"But… there was nothing I can do during that time. Anyways, Najenda had the right qualities to become a commander of an army or of a skilled group of elites into battle. She's a taciturn, sharp-minded and level-headed kind of leader who can lead a group with a surprisingly gentle, but firm sense of authority around her. She also has experience similar to my own from serving in the Empire which have made her a highly capable leader worthy of respect.

Although, at first my sister had a crush on her at some point because she mistook her as a pretty boy, or a bishounen as some people call it. That was an absolutely embarrassing moment for the both of them after she learned that she was actually a tomboyish girl with short messy hair. The look on her face was hilarious after she confessed her feeling to her and Najenda had to explain to her that she was girl." Karasu smirked and chuckled to herself at the memory as well as Naruto who laughed at the story in turn. "Good times." She smiled before bringing up her second best friend.

"Esdeath on the other hand is a different, in terms of both leadership and personality. In a way, we were like two peas in a pod, but with some differences. Like me, she too is a sadist, but she's not masochistic like I am when I get really worked up... you know what I mean." She nodded over to Naruto who sweatdropped at the comment.

"She also lacks empathy for people whom she deems weak. In a way, neither do, but I don't completely disregard an individual because they're weak. Sometimes on my generous days, I will help build up on their weaknesses and make them strong enough to overcome their weaknesses and turn them into a stronger person than what they were before, but that's only IF I saw the potential in them first. Esdeath however, loves to torture her enemies and putting them through great pain, both physically and emotionally… just like me... but she's better at it than I am. Also, just like me, she too has had daddy issues."

"Like what? Naruto questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Belief issues. She lives by her father's philosophy to a point where she's fanatically focused. She believes that this world is run by the age old quote made by someone whose name I don't know. It goes along the lines, "The strong survive and the weak die". Pretty much, survival of the fittest."

"Does that involve the innocent?"

"Errm… I won't lie, but I suspect that she couldn't give a rat's ass about any innocents. Her rationality is based around her belief that she stands strongly by. Sooo yeah… In a sense, she's not wrong about it, but that doesn't mean that I don't stand by it… I believe that people can stand up on their own two feet if they try hard enough, if given the right motivation of course. If they don't… well then it's on them." Karasu shrugged indifferently.

"Has she ever given you any problems?"

"You mean besides being difficult? Yeah… she has her moments where she can be hard to work with and her habit of doing her own thing, just like me, but I like to stick to some examples of protocol and set a few standards so things don't go to shit because of a few disagreements between the two of us.

She's also shown to be a benevolent leader to her subordinates like me and Najenda. She treats them well and lets them do as they please and in return she gains their fierce loyalty and absolute devotion. Despite being an ice queen, which was my nickname for her back in the academy. She's also shown to be a genuinely caring leader as she doted on my sister, like a loving elder sibling. She never belittled her or looked down on her as if she was weak, which I suspect it was due to her possession of a Teigu and my sister's resolve.

Just like me, she also has a deep love for fighting. She will also show total respect for anyone who manages to impress her in a one on one match, be it sparring or actual combat. If anyone manages to stand toe to toe against her, then you will earn her good graces. I was one of the very few to do so, as well as Najenda, but I was more closer to her level.

Despite her battle thirsty tendencies, she's a great charismatic leader that will inspire just about anyone to fight for her, even those on the opposing side. She's not heartless or cold enough to have her judgement clouded by her thirst for battle as she will not risk her soldiers' lives if the battle proves to be too much for them to handle. So she will pull them out to lessen the chance of heavy losses. Although, she will sometimes not tolerate failure just like me, but she can be merciful depending on how much they fucked up on their assignment, or if they explain their reasons why they failed and it wasn't their fault. Due to those characteristics, she proves to be a reasonable leader, but a resolute one."

"She sounds amazing." Naruto smiled.

"She is… although, many would disagree on that."

Naruto narrowed his eyes I scrutiny. "How come?"

"Esdeath, despite her charisma and caring personality, has shown to be quite cruel and deprived of a moral code. Mostly they're just afraid of what she could do if she were to get any stronger than she already is."

Naruto tilted his head in thought, to which Karasu found honestly cute. "Do you believe that?"

"Personally I don't want to believe that she will go that far, but if she was pushed far enough… there's no telling what she might do." Karasu bit her lower lip. "But, I choose to believe that she is not like what they say she is. She is my friend and I truly believe in her. In fact, I think she could be a massive help to you." Karasu brought her hands together and pressed her fingertips together and as she just had a plausible idea.

"You think so?" Naruto mused at her suggestion.

"Well… not right now as she will mop the floor with you at your current level, but if you can impress and manage to convince her then she just might be convinced enough to join our side against the Empire and the Revolutionary Army. You just need to give her a reason to fight."

"Why the Revolutionary Army?"

"Because they are morally corrupt despite having "Noble intentions" of freeing this country. They shouldn't be trusted as all they would be doing is dividing the country up."

"I… I agree on that, it shouldn't be divided. Isolationism will harbor fear and intolerance for others. Instead we should be united."

"Exactly Naru-kun, that is exactly what we should be aiming for here, a unified nation. We should start with the vassal states and neighboring countries bordering us or further into the mainland of this continent."

"I could find allies back home?" Naruto suggested.

"Do you happen to know anyone that would offer their assistance?" Karasu shot back at Naruto who frowned in thought before sinking his head in defeat.

"No… I was basically not allowed to leave the village."

"Hey, it's not your fault if you were treated like a prisoner. Besides, I bet that the outside was pretty hostile to travel through… you know like, bandits, wild animals, dangerous beasts etc."

"Yeah, something like that. What if I gained their trust somehow?"

"Like what?"

"I do them a massive favor or something like that?" Naruto suggested.

"And how did that turn out for you?" Karasu deadpanned at that thought.

"I don't believe that everyone is that ungrateful… I believe that there are some great people out there that can prove to be beneficial allies and great friends."

"As much as I want to say that is a bit idealistic of you, we do need allies in this, both inside and out… Oh, and by the way, you need to start training in order for this grand plan of yours to work. Don't worry, I will help you out, but you will need to find someone else for your ninja training I'm afraid, sorry."

"No need, I already have someone that will help me, and believe she will be seriously helpful." Naruto smiled

 **"Humph! You best be grateful that I'm considering this. Normally I don't…"** Kayo huffed, but unknown to Naruto she had a bright red blush on her cheeks.

" _Ara, ara… You see Naruto-sama, she even speaks tsundere! Kawaii!"_ Prometheus squalled to herself as she pressed her hands on both cheeks.

 **"Urusai!** " Kayo spluttered indignantly from embarrassment.

Naruto sweat dropped at their antics.

Karasu recollected the comment of the sentient beings that were inside of his conscience. "Their help would be greatly appreciated. I approve of that as I'm not always going to be around to help you."

Naruto nodded before he had another thought. "Who else would you recommend that would be a good ally?"

Karasu pressed the tip of her left hand's index finger onto her lower lip. "Inside the empire, Najenda could be a good contender for that, but you need to give her a good and valid reason for that as her morals are resolute and I suspect that she is having doubts about the empire from the way I saw her acting some time ago. Esdeath is a tough one, but providing her with a good and reasonable justification would be enough to sway her to our side. Then we would not only have a powerful fighter, but a powerful military commander as well. One solution is to give her what she wants. She loves to fight so give her a target and she will do that for you. You could give her freedom and she will have no problems with you, but she may give you some trouble if you don't know how to control her."

"However, there is one person who will no doubt join us."

"What's she like?" Naruto asked.

Karasu deadpanned as she sensed a presence coming in fast with rushed footsteps.

"If I were to describe her in one word, it would be..."

 ***Slam!***

"Onee-Sama!" a panicked voice cried out as she rushed over to Karasu, slamming the door open in the process. The resulting noise from the door banging against the wall and the presence of a female who wore surgeon's clothing covered in blood waving her arms around like a maniac, made Naruto think that he was at the hospital and was about to be attacked by a syringe wielding lunatic.

"Argh!" Naruto yelped in fright as he jumped up in surprise.

The bloody surgeon tripped on the door step and landed on her face as soon as she tried to run in.

"Kyaa!" she yelped as she landed flat on her face.

Karasu deadpanned and face palmed "Ditzy." She sighed before raising her head to introduce the person who burst into the room in a hurry.

"Naruto-kun, meet my twin sister, Hikari." She motioned her hand to the girl who was the same age as Karasu, but younger.

"Mou!" Hikari sat up in a kneeling position winced as she nursed her red nose. She removed the surgical mask to revel a soft doll like face with bright pink lips and emerald green eyes. She then removed the cloth that contained her wavy golden blonde hair that cascaded down to her lower back and revealing a black hairband on top of her head. She stood at a height of 5'5 ft, making her shorter than both her sister and Naruto by a few inches. Her physical features were what caught Naruto off-guard. Behind her blue surgeon garb were a pair of massive F cups of 93 centimetres, a slim waist, a full toned and shapely, yet cute butt and a smooth pair of legs that were hidden by the surgical dress.

Naruto also caught site of a necklace themed Teigu on her neck. It had a dark blue crystal attached to a small silver link chain that hung off her neck, with the crystal resting just above her sternum and gigantic breasts. The crystal possessed an ethereal glow as it shimmered with great power that Naruto could sense.

Kayo gaped at the sight of the crystal. "What the...! What the hell is that crystal doing here!?... no… are they related somehow?" Kayo cried out in shock.

"?" Naruto and Prometheus wondered what got Kayo so riled up.

Said blonde girl lifted her head and stared at the two in both confusion and childlike curiosity. "mm?" she tilted her head in a cutesy way until she sprang up from the ground as she remembered why she was here.

"Ah! Of course, Onee-Sama!" she yelled loudly as she whipped out a letter from in-between her breasts as she fished her hand down her blood stained surgical dress and handing the letter to Karasu. "This just came in by carrier bird." She brightened up like any good little sister would do after doing a good deed for their elder sibling.

"Hiakri! Don't just put things that may be important in-between your enormous breasts. They've got sweat all over them!" Karasu yelled comically as she picked up the letter and waved it about.

"Ehehe!" she bonked herself on the head and gave out a nervous laugh. "Gomen." She meekly apologised.

"Its fine, I don't blame you if you were in a rush. Looks like the capital has finally responded to my report." She pursed her lips together.

"What does it say?" Naruto leaning forwards eager to hear what they had to say. He was also concerned if the Empire were to react badly to the report.

Karasu opened the letter and she read through the letter. After finishing the letter, her eyes widened and she read the letter again causing her to frown.

"Onee-sama, what did they say?"

"It seems my probation is up. Due to my heroic actions in preventing the revolutionaries from capturing the mine and preventing an international incident with a foreign nation along with my loyalties and support to the Empire with my expertise and skills… I've been promoted to general, as per the recommendation by Great General Budo, General Esdeath, General Najenda and surprisingly... Emperor Makoto who supported my promotion…" she raised her head and looked over to the two gobsmacked expressions of her dear sister and her favourite miner/love interest. "I shit you not!"

(END)


End file.
